Erdogan defies foreign powers in Syria and demands an end to their intervention

Turkey is trying to position itself as the most relevant foreign actor in Syria after the fall of Bashar Al-Assad's regime. This is why Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged all countries to ‘take their hands off Syria’. 

In particular, the Turkish leader has addressed Israel directly, demanding an end to its ‘aggressive actions’. ‘Otherwise, there will be negative consequences that will affect everyone,’ Erdogan warned during a meeting of his political party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP).  

Following the fall of al-Assad, and given the threats posed by jihadist groups in Syria, Israel decided to establish a security zone inside Syrian territory to prevent forces loyal to the new regime from launching attacks towards the Golan Heights. 

In addition, Israel plans to establish a 60-kilometre ‘zone of influence’ inside Syria to allow intelligence control to monitor and mitigate emerging threats in the area. 

Israel also destroyed the former Syrian army's military capabilities, as well as weapons stockpiles and chemical weapons factories in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of extremist groups. 

Shortly after Erdogan's remarks, Israel's foreign ministry issued a statement ‘completely’ rejecting the Turkish president's words. ‘The aggressive imperialist actor in Syria (as well as in northern Cyprus, Libya and other areas of the Middle East) is Turkey itself, and it is advisable for the Turkish president to avoid unnecessary threats,’ the statement said, stressing that ‘the State of Israel will continue to act to protect its borders from any threat’. 

With his latest statements, in addition to Israel, Erdogan is also addressing the United States, France and other countries that are part of the Global Coalition to defeat Daesh.  

In this regard, Ankara has firmly rejected a proposal to deploy French troops along the Syrian border to establish a safe zone aimed at easing tensions with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed Kurdish militia that Turkey considers a terrorist organisation. 

‘Some small European countries involved in military operations in Syria under the US umbrella are trying to promote their own interests by talking about certain issues, but this does not bring any real benefit to themselves or to the region,’ Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said recently during a press conference in Istanbul. ‘We do not engage with countries that try to hide behind US power while promoting their own agendas,’ he added, referring to France. 

Although the French government has not publicly proposed protecting the Turkey-Syria border, French President Emmanuel Macron has assured that he will not abandon the SDF, one of the many factions involved in Syria's civil war. 

The SDF has also played a key role in the fight against Daesh. Currently, the Kurdish militias play a vital role in controlling prison camps where Islamist militants are held. 

In this regard, Erdogan noted that the ‘fabricated excuses’ related to the fight against the terrorist group ‘no longer have any convincing character’. ‘If there is really a fear of the Daesh threat in Syria and the region, the biggest power that has the will and the power to solve this problem is Turkey,’ he said. 

The Turkish leader has stressed that his country, together with its ‘Syrian brothers’, will defeat the heads of Daesh, the YPG and ‘other terrorist organisations in no time’. 

Ankara has urged giving the new Syrian administration a chance to address the YPG presence, but also threatened a new cross-border operation against the militia if its demands are not met. Addressing the Turkish parliament, Erdogan said the YPG ‘was the biggest problem in Syria now’, saying the group ‘could not escape its inevitable end unless it lays down its arms’.