Turkey's military is ready to "support" Syria in its battle with Kurdish fighters in the northwestern city of Aleppo if Damascus asks for help, a defence ministry official said Thursday. And Turkey's top diplomat said Ankara had been working "intensively" with Syrian and American officials in a bid to end the unrest.
Deadly clashes erupted this week between Syrian government forces and the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Defence Forces (SDF) after the two sides failed to reach a year-end deadline to merge the Kurdish fighters into the main Damascus military.
In Ankara, the defence ministry official framed the clashes as a "counter-terror operation", saying Turkey fully backed "Syria's fight against terrorist organisations".
"Should Syria request assistance, Turkey will provide the necessary support," he said, echoing a long-standing offer by Ankara to extend military support to its allies in Damascus's new Islamist government.
Turkey has long been hostile to the Kurdish SDF that controls swathes of northeastern Syria, seeing it as an extension of the banned Kurdish militant group PKK and a major threat along its southern border.
It has repeatedly pushed for implementation of the so-called March 10 deal under which the Kurds' semi-autonomous administration and military would be integrated into the Syrian military and security apparatus.
The Kurds are pushing for decentralised rule, an idea which Syria's new authorities have rejected, blocking the deal's implementation and causing building tension.
- 'Uncompromising stance' -
The unrest in Aleppo began on Tuesday with a string of armed attacks that claimed nine lives and prompted thousands to flee, with the two sides trading barbs over who was responsible.
The toll now stands at 17 dead.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Turkey had been locked in talks with Damascus and Washington to resolve the deadlock which he blamed on the SDF's "uncompromising stance".
"Over the past two days, we have been involved in intensive consultations with the Syrian side and the Americans. God willing, this will be resolved without further bloodshed," he said.
"The SDF's insistence on preserving what it controls at any cost constitutes one of the greatest obstacles to Syrian peace and stability," he said, urging the force to "abandon terrorism and separatism".
Parliamentary speaker Numan Kurtulmus also warned against Israeli involvement in the standoff after its top diplomat denounced the government operation "against the Kurdish minority in Aleppo" as "dangerous" for Syria's minorities.
"Let me be very clear: Israel does not love the Kurds of Syria," Kurtulmus said, warning against efforts "to turn people against each other on ethnic, religious, and sectarian grounds".
