Turkish President Erdogan calls for support in effort for peace in Syria

By Zehra Nur Duz and Dilara Hamit

ANKARA (AA) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday stressed the importance of efforts for peace in nieghboring Syria, urging all peace advocates to support this pivotal call.

“We want peace in Syria, and we expect everyone who stands for peace to support this historic call,” Erdogan told journalists on his return flight from Washington, DC, where he attended a NATO leaders’ summit this week.

On Türkiye’s peace efforts in Syria, Erdogan said: “US and Iran should welcome these positive developments and support the process to end immense suffering.”

“A fair peace in Syria would benefit Türkiye (among neighboring countries) the most,” Erdogan said, adding: “The most important step in this process is to start a new era with Syria.”

On a potential meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, something he has hinted at in recent days, Erdogan said: “Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is working with his Syrian counterpart to lay out a roadmap, we will take steps accordingly.”

"We have been striving for years to extinguish the fire in our neighbor, Syria," said Erdogan, referring to the over decade-long Syrian civil war, which sent millions of migrants into Türkiye and created a power vacuum near the Turkish border that terrorist groups tried to exploit.

“Our main expectation is that no one will be disturbed by the process in which Syria builds a new future as a united and whole country.”

He added: “Terrorist groups will do everything they can to poison the peace process in Syria. They will plot provocations and set traps. We are aware of all these plans and are prepared.”

Erdogan last week signaled a new diplomatic peace initiative with Damascus, suggesting a potential invitation to Syria's Bashar al-Assad.

- Terrorist PKK, Palestine, Azerbaijan and Armenia

Touching on relations with northern Iraq, Erdogan said: “Our stance towards the administration in Sulaymaniyah, (northern) Iraq will not change as long as it does not distance itself from the terrorist PKK.”

Türkiye in recent months has complained of cooperation between the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party in Sulaymaniyah, northern Iraq and the terrorist group PKK.

In its nearly 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

On Israel’s devastating war on Gaza, now into its ninth month, Erdogan said: “What those who want to stand on the right side of history need to do is recognize state of Palestine. A fair, just approach requires this.”

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.

Over 38,300 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 88,300 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Nine months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean, water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah.

On a land route in the southern Caucasus, Erdogan said that a land route through the Zengezur corridor, connecting Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave, “would benefit everyone, especially Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Iran.”

The Zengezur region was originally part of Azerbaijan, though the Soviets gave it to Armenia in the 1920s, leaving Azerbaijan deprived of a direct overland route to Nakhchivan.

Following its 44-day war with Armenia in fall 2020, Azerbaijan has focused on infrastructure including motorways and a 43-kilometer (26.7-mile) railway through the corridor.

Erdogan also protested restrictions by Germany on defense industry sales, saying such restrictions among NATO allies ill befit the NATO alliance.

He also objected to German customs holding up the delivery of turbines for the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, now under construction in southern Türkiye.

On the process of F-16 procurement from US, Erdogan said that government ministers and institutions are closely monitoring the process to get swift results.

Erdogan said that priority is to fulfill Türkiye's F-16 request, despite various subordinate issues, stressing the wish to not focus on financial aspects.

He also announced a potential visit to China after the UN General Assembly this fall, voicing hope that President Xi Jinping next year will pay Türkiye a return visit.