Turkey convinced Russia and Iran “not to interfere” in Syria during the rebel offensive that led to the fall of Bashar al-Assad, the foreign minister claimed Hakan Fidan.
Hakan Fidan in an interview broadcast by the NTV channel referred to the developments in Syria and emphasized that “the most important thing was to talk to the Russians and the Iranians and make sure that they would not intervene militarily in the equation. We talked to the Russians and the Iranians, they understood.”
And he went on to say that “in order to have as little loss of human life as possible, we tried to do it without bloodshed, continuing the targeted negotiations with two important actors, capable of using their power”, he added.
For Fidan, if Bashar al-Assad received help from Russia and Iran, there was a risk that “the victory of the opposition (…) would take a long time and be bloody. But the Russians and Iranians saw that there was no point. They invested in the wrong person. Moreover, the conditions in the region, as well as globally, are not the same,” he said.
Within eleven days of launching the offensive, the rebel coalition led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham captured Damascus and ousted Assad, who fled with his family to Russia.
“The elimination of the YPG is a strategic goal”
Fidan also said that Turkey’s embassy in Damascus will reopen from tomorrow Saturday, adding that diplomats are already heading to Syria.
“We want to see a Syria without terrorism, where minorities will not be mistreated. We want an inclusive government in Syria,” he said, adding that the number of Syrian refugees returning to their country would gradually increase.
Fidan also stressed that Turkey’s strategic goal is to eliminate the Kurdish YPG militia, the People’s Protection Units. The YPG is a key component of the US-backed forces that have helped in the war against Islamic State. Ankara considers the YPG a terrorist organization and maintains that they are an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).