US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday that Syrian civilians needed to be protected after Ankara-backed Islamists overthrew the Damascus government.
The top US diplomat met for more than an hour with Erdogan in an airport lounge in the capital Ankara late Thursday, moments after the Turkish leader waved off Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orban.
Blinken reiterated the importance of respecting human rights in Syria, upholding international humanitarian law, and taking all possible steps to protect civilians, including members of minority groups, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
Turkey has stressed its security concerns following the turmoil in Syria, where it is fighting Kurdish-led forces, which Washington backs as a key player in the fight against jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) group. Is.
After years of standoff, the Islamist movement Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group last weekend ousted Syria’s hardline leader Bashar al-Assad, a secular-oriented member of the minority Alawite community.
Blinken told Erdogan “there is a need to ensure that the coalition can continue to execute its critical mission to defeat ISIS (IS),” Miller said.
Speaking before leaving for Turkey at a stop in Jordan, Blinken acknowledged Turkey’s “real and clear interests” regarding the PKK, Kurdish fighters whom Ankara links to Syrian Kurdish guerrillas.
“At the same time, we want to avoid provoking any type of additional conflict inside Syria again,” Blinken told reporters in Aqaba, Jordan.
“And part of that is also to make sure that ISIS doesn’t rear its ugly head again. And to make sure that the so-called SDF, the Syrian Democratic Forces, that we’re supporting, is important.” he said, referring to Kurdish-led forces.
Blinken, who is leaving office next month following Donald Trump’s election victory, has called for an “inclusive” process to form Syria’s next government with respect for all communities.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
