Salih Muslim: Turkey seeks to occupy new territories
Salih Muslim, co-chair of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), responded to the interview Bashar Assad gave to Sky News Arabic. In the interview, Bashar al-Assad stated that Turkey must leave Syria and that it would not be possible to meet with Erdogan without a withdrawal. Salih Muslim said in his interview with the ANHA news agency that Assad’s statements were not enough to persuade Turkey to leave the occupied territories.
Muslim stressed that the government in Damascus shows no decision or authority. He added that there is a war between the hegemonic powers in Syria. According to Muslim, these hegemonic powers did not agree on Turkey’s withdrawal from Syrian territories. Muslim continued: “They don’t care because Iran has interests with Turkey and that is why it is not supporting the issue of Turkey’s withdrawal now; while Russia wants to implement its plans with Turkey and the international coalition doesn’t want to upset Turkey, its ally in NATO.”
The co-chair also said he did not expect Damascus to take any concrete steps to force Turkey to leave, basing his assessment on the following examples: “In Sochi, Turkey and its gangs agreed to open the M4/M5 road, but this has not happened yet. Turkey and its mercenaries are imposing their own conditions. It is therefore difficult to believe that Turkey will leave Syria.”
He pointed out that the Damascus government has not the ability to move or take any steps on its own: “They don’t agree with what Turkey is saying, but they don’t stop holding meetings with it either, and during the Astana meeting they took decisions against the Autonomous Administration, Turkey, Russia, Syria and Iran, so are they demanding Turkey to leave Syria? No, they are not. Russia is working on holding a meeting between Erdogan and Assad because it seeks a rapprochement between them.
According to Muslim, the Turkish state has no intention of leaving Syria. On the contrary, it wants to extend its occupation: “Now Turkey is drawing up another plan for the Turkmen. In other words, they are saying that they will establish a Turkmen state in northern and eastern Syria. Turkey has set up training camps in the occupied areas. It is training and using the people it has brought here. The occupied territories have become a stronghold for mercenaries, and Turkey is using terrorism as an instrument of blackmail against the world.” Noting that Turkey will not leave Syria without a serious commitment from all parties involved, Muslim concluded: “The issue is complex, and we can only expel the Turks from here with our unity and struggle.”