Devlet Bahçeli, leader of government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), hailed the Syrian army’s success in weeding out the U.S.-backed terrorist group YPG from the areas it occupied and called on them to drive out the YPG from “east of the Euphrates River as well.”
Bahçeli is the architect of the terror-free Türkiye initiative that aims to disarm the PKK, with which the YPG is affiliated. The YPG’s presence in Syria’s northeast remained a major security threat for Türkiye.
Addressing lawmakers of the MHP at a parliamentary group meeting in Ankara on Tuesday, Bahçeli said Aleppo, Raqqa and Deir el-Zour, three provinces liberated from the YPG, were “saved from oppression.”
“The YPG, which resisted the March 10 deal and undermined talks with the aid of foreign actors, was forced out of the areas it occupied,” he said, referring to a 2025 deal that stipulated the YPG’s integration into the Syrian army.
“The latest developments are in favor of Syria, regional countries and Türkiye. The YPG openly opposed the Feb. 27 call and carried out attack after attack on terror-free Türkiye and terror-free region goals,” he said, referring to a call by PKK’s jailed ringleader Abdullah Öcalan for dissolution of the terrorist group.
“A new political and social structure is being built in Syria. The YPG had to sign the deal with Damascus, and it is good news. Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens and other ethnic groups have nothing but ambition to live together,” he said.
The YPG portrayed itself as fighting for Kurdish rights in Syria, but Bahçeli underlined that the YPG should not be associated with Kurds.
“They cannot represent our Kurdish brothers in Syria,” Bahçeli said.
“The YPG’s aggressive conduct, acting like a state within a state, is unsustainable. For this reason, not only west of the Euphrates but also east of it, terrorist activity operating from Ayn al-Arab to Qamishli must be eradicated at its roots. Operations must be carried out in a comprehensive and coordinated manner. We will not tolerate, submit to or overlook the bloody plots and maneuvers of terrorism and terrorist groups, either at home or abroad.”
