Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held high-level combating terrorism talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken concentrated on stabilizing Syria. Hakan Fidan, talking at a joint press conference with the US Secretary of State in the capital, Ankara, expressed Turkish-US preferences in Syria, including stability, combating terrorism, and placing an end to terrorist Daesh/ISIS and PKK domination.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stressed that he and Blinken examined what could be done to manage Syria’s stability, their typical concerns, and potential solutions. The Turkish minister stated he and the US secretary of state arranged that a cease-fire in Gaza should be specified as soon as possible. Blinken, for his interest, expressed that Washington prioritized options for Syrians as well as releasing people from Bashar Assad’s shackles.

“As the (foreign) minister expressed, we’re very attentive on Syria, very attentive on the possibility that now is before us, and before the Syrian people, to move out from under the bonds of Bashar al-Assad to a different and better tomorrow for the Syrian people, one that the Syrian people choose for themselves,”

he said.

In recent years, Turkey’s and Washington’s ties have been weakened by the US’s policy toward Syria.

Ankara resists US backing for the YPG due to its links with the PKK, which has inflicted a terror campaign against Türkiye for 40 years, leading to the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including females, children, and newborns, according to official figures. While Washington regards the YPG—also known by acronyms such as the SDF—as a key ally in the war against Daesh/ISIS in Syria, it does not identify the YPG as a terrorist group, although it does recognise the PKK as such.