Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Israel must withdraw its forces from Syria or it will cause “unfavorable outcomes for everyone.”
“The aggressive actions of the forces attacking Syrian territory, Israel, in particular, must come to an end as soon as possible,” he said during a meeting of his party in Ankara.
“Everyone should take their hands off Syria and we, along with our Syrian brothers, will crush the heads of Islamic State, the YPG and other terrorist organizations in a short time.”
The IDF has said that its deployment to a buffer zone on the Syrian side of the border and strategic positions beyond the zone is a defensive and temporary measure amid the unstable situation in Syria since last month’s fall of Bashar al-Assad.
Meanwhile, in the past month, Turkey has said repeatedly that it was time for the Kurdish YPG militia to disband. Ankara considers the group, which spearheads the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as a terrorist organization.
Ankara has said the new Syrian administration must be given an opportunity to address the YPG presence but also threatened to mount a new cross-border operation against the militia based in northeast Syria if its demands are not met.
Erdogan said the YPG was the biggest problem in Syria now, and added that the group would not be able to escape its inevitable end unless it lays down its arms.
“Regarding fabricated excuses like Islamic State, these have no convincing side anymore,” Erdogan said, referring to the US position that the YPG was a key partner against Islamic State in Syria and that it plays a vital role in guarding prison camps where the Islamist terrorists are kept.
“If there is really a fear of the Islamic State threat in Syria and the region, the biggest power that has the will and power to resolve this issue is Turkey,” he said.
Turkey has repeatedly asked its NATO ally the United States to halt support for the SDF and has said the new administration in Syria had offered to take over the management of the prisons.
As Israel and Hamas seemingly inch closer to signing a deal that would see hostages released in exchange for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons, Erdogan also commented on the potential ceasefire.
“With the establishment of a ceasefire in Gaza, where genocide and massacres have been ongoing for 15 months, an important opportunity will arise for lasting peace and stability across the entire region,” he said.
“We are closely following the ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, and we hope to receive positive news as soon as possible.”
Erdogan has been a harsh critic of Israel, particularly over the last 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas, which broke out after the terrorist organization launched an unprecedented cross-border attack on southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, murdering some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages.
The Turkish president has repeatedly accused Israel of genocide in the war, compared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler, and even threatened Israel in July that Turkey could intervene militarily in support of the Palestinians if the war did not end.