'No question’ Türkiye is ‘significant’ player in Syria's future, White House says

WASHINGTON

There is "no question" that Türkiye is a "significant" player in Syria, the White House said Monday as Damascus emerges from over five decades of Assad family rule.

"There's no question that the Turks are significant players here in whatever the outcome in Syria is going to be, as they have been over the course of the last 14 years," National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

"That's why we continue to have conversations with them at all different levels about what they're doing, what their concerns are. As I have said in the past, they have legitimate concerns with a terrorist threat along that border with Syria. Turkish citizens have fallen victim to terrorist activities there. You can't very well blame the Turks for being concerned about that threat," he added.

Still, Kirby said the US would maintain its support for the YPG/PKK-led SDF, its primary Syrian partner in the fight against Daesh/ISIS, adding the Biden administration wants to maintain the focus on the anti-Daesh/ISIS fight.

"As there's a need to deconflict and to work through some of those overlapping concerns, well we'll do that, because Türkiye is, as you rightly said, a NATO ally," he said.

"They have had, legitimately so, have had a large interest in what's going on in Syria. We recognize that. We also recognize that sometimes their goals aren't exactly the same as ours, and so we talk to them about that and will continue to do so," he added.

The SDF is led by the YPG, the Syrian branch of the PKK, a designated terrorist organization in the US and Türkiye.

US support for the SDF has significantly strained relations between Washington and Ankara.