Blinken meets Erdogan as forces backed by US, Turkiye clash in Syria

US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, arrived in Turkiye on Thursday for talks focused on a critical aspect of establishing stability in Syria: clashes in the north of the country between US-backed Kurdish forces and Turkiye-backed rebels, Reuters reports.

Blinken met President Tayyip Erdogan at Ankara’s Esenboga Airport after visiting Jordan on his first trip to the region since Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s government was ousted on Sunday.

The Turkish presidency shared a photo from Erdogan’s meeting with Blinken in a post on X, but did not share details about the talks.

Blinken will meet Turkish Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, on Friday.

NATO allies, Washington and Ankara, supported Syrian rebels during the 13-year civil war, but their interests notably clashed when it came to one of the rebel factions – the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

The SDF is the main ally in a US coalition against Daesh militants. It is spearheaded by the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara sees as an extension of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants that it outlaws and that have fought the Turkish state for 40 years.

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Before arriving in Ankara, Blinken said the PKK is an “enduring threat” to Turkiye.

“At the same time […] we want to avoid sparking any kinds of additional conflicts inside of Syria at a time when we want to see this transition to an interim government and to a better way forward,” he said.

Syria is expected to top the agenda of Blinken’s talks, a Turkish official said on condition of anonymity, adding Ankara is ready to support Syria as a safe and stable place governed by an inclusive government.

Northern Syria

Earlier this week, Turkish-backed forces seized the northern city of Manbij from the US-backed SDF, which then headed east of the Euphrates River. A Syrian opposition source told Reuters the US and Turkiye had reached an agreement on the withdrawal.

A Turkish Defence Ministry official said, on Thursday, the advance on Manbij aimed to “clear terrorism”.

The official warned about unspecified efforts to provide cover for the PKK by flagging risks related to Daesh, adding that Ankara has told Washington that one terrorist group cannot be used to eliminate another.

Blinken said on Monday that Daesh will try to use this period to re-establish capabilities in Syria, but the United States is determined not to let that happen.

Some SDF fighters also withdrew from Tel Refaat and parts of Aleppo to the west in the early days of the lightning rebel offensive that swept south across the country.

Turkiye also directly targeted the YPG in recent days with its intelligence agency destroying 12 trucks loaded with missiles and heavy weapons in north-east Syria.

READ: Blinken meets Jordan’s king in Syria diplomacy push