Syrian Kurdish YPG should stop delaying Syria integration, Turkey says
The Kurdish YPG militia, which spearheads the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), should stop "playing for time" and abide by its integration agreement with the Syrian government, Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Wednesday.
NATO-memberTurkey has been one of Syria's main foreign allies after the ousting of Bashar al-Assad last year, while it considers both the SDF and YPG as terrorist organizations.
The SDF, which controls much of northeast Syria, signed an agreement with Damascus in March to integrate into the Syrian state apparatus.
"The YPG/SDF must stop its policy of playing for time," Fidan told a joint press conference with his Syrian counterpartAsaad al-Shibani in Ankara.
"Just because we approach (the process) with good intentions does not mean we don't see your little ruses," Fidan said.
Fidan visited Damascus last week, following clashes between the SDF and Syrian government forces in Manbij and Aleppo, and after weeks of tensions between Israel and Syria over fighting between Druze and Bedouin forces around Sweida last month.
Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the PKK
"A new era has begun in the region and there's a new process in Turkey. They should benefit from those positive developments," Fidan said, referring to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group's decision to disarm and disband.
Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the PKK but the YPG has said the disarmament call of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan did not apply to it, contradicting Ankara's view.
"We witness some developments in Syria that we find hard to tolerate," Fidan said. "We see that members (of the YPG) who came from Turkey, Iraq and Iran have not left Syria."
Shibani criticized the SDF for holding a conference which called for a review of the constitutional declaration issued earlier this year by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and said it sought to exploit the events in Sweida. He also called the conference a violation of the agreement to integrate the SDF into state institutions.
The SDF has been in conflict with Turkey-backed Syrian armed groups in northern Syria for years. Ankara has carried out several incursions against the YPG in the past and controls swathes of territory in northern Syria.
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