Turkish Defense Miniter Yasar Guler said on Sunday that his country stands ready to provide military training to the new Syria security forces, if asked – in what could be considered another sign of Ankara's ambition to become the new Damascus patron, under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Turkey which borders Syria from the north has for the past 13 years of the Syrian civil war, backed the rebels fighting the Assad regime. But, in the past two years when it appeared that the Syrian leadership had the upper hand in the war, Turkey attempted to improve its relations with Damascus. Last month it seemed Turkey was behind the rebel offensive that ultimately brought the regime down.
The possibility that the Jihadists of Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) would now repay the Turkish leader is cause for concern not only to the Kurds in northern Syria, Turkey's long-time enemies, but also Israel - which Erdogan has grown more belligerent toward since the Oct. 7 massacre.
Signs that Turkey was quick to establish facts on the ground were apparent last week. On Thursday, The Turkish intelligence chief was the first foreign senior official to visit Damascus since the rebels took control of the country where he met with rebel leaders. On Saturday, Turkey reopened its embassy in Syria, nearly 15 years after it was closed in response to Assad's massacre of his opponents.
"In their first statement, the new administration that toppled Assad announced that it would respect all government institutions, the United Nations and other international organizations," Guler told reporters in Ankara in comments authorized for publication on Sunday. "We think that we need to see what the new administration will do and to give them a chance."
" When asked whether Turkey was considering military cooperation with the new Syrian government, Guler said Ankara already had military cooperation and training agreements with many countries. "(Turkey) is ready to provide the necessary support if the new administration requests it," he added.
Turkey has a few hundred troops in northern Syria and had carried out four military operations there since 2016, against "threats to Turkish security," as Guler called it. He said his government may reevaluate Turkish military presence in Syria with the new leadership "when conditions are ripe."
In his briefing to reporters the defense minister said Turkey's primary goal was and is to abolish the Kurdish YPG, which it claims is part of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), considered a terrorist organization in Turkey and the U.S.
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Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken
(Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AP)
YPG is one of the leading forces in the "Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that now controls some of Syria's biggest oil fields. It is also a senior partner in the U.S. led coalition against ISIS, so its future would be a point of contention between Ankara and Washington.
Guler said the PKK and the YPG in Syria would be eliminated, sooner or later and its members whom he claimed came from outside Syria would have to leave and those who are Syrians would be made to lay down their arms.
The defense minister also claimed that despite warnings from the U.S., Turkey had not identified any resurgence of ISIS.
Turkey has in the past told the U.S. that Ankara could deploy three commando brigades in Syria to fight Islamic State, and to run al-Hol, the detention camp for IS families, Guler said, adding that Washington had rejected both offers.
"Instead, they cooperated with the PKK/YPG terrorist organization under the banner of fighting DAESH. But you can't fight one terrorist organization with another terrorist organization."
Asked about the future involvement in Syria of Russia, a longstanding ally of Assad which last weekend granted him asylum, Guler said he saw no sign of a complete Russian withdrawal.
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Russia, he said, is moving its military assets from different parts of Syria to its two bases in the country - the Hmeimim air base at Latakia and a naval base in Tartous.
"I don't think the Russians are going to leave (Syria). They'll do everything they can to stay," he said.
On Sunday, a week after the fall of the Assad regime, most schools reopened. Foreign journalists who were at a Damascus boys high school said the students appeared happy and cheered when the principle raised the Free Syria flag
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Free Syria flag put on a Damascus school wall
(Photo: Ali Haj Suleiman /Getty Images )
In one classroom, a student pasted the new flag on a wall. "I am optimistic and very happy," said student Salah al-Din Diab. "I used to walk in the street scared that I would get drafted to military service. I used to be afraid when I reach a checkpoint."