ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Bashar al-Assad failed to capitalize on the window of time provided by the Astana process since 2016 to reconcile with the Syrian people and end the civil war, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Sunday.
“For the last 13 years, the country [Syria] has been in turmoil. However, since 2016, through Astana process, we de-escalated the situation and basically froze the war,” Fidan said during the Doha Forum in Qatar.
“This precious time should have been used by the regime to reconcile with its own people, however, the regime did not use this opportunity,” he stressed.
Syria’s civil war dramatically reignited late last month when a coalition of rebels led by the jihadist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched a blistering offensive against the Syrian army, seizing the northern city of Aleppo, Hama, Homs, and culminating their victory by capturing the capital Damascus as rebels said Assad fled the country, ending over five decades of Baathist rule.
After taking over Damascus, HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani ordered his forces not to approach any official institutions in the capital and declared that these institutions will remain under the supervision of Assad’s Prime Minister Mohammed al-Jalali until their official handover.
“When all attempts failed, [Turkish] President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan himself extended his hand to the regime to open a way to achieve national unity and peace in Syria – that was also denied,” Fidan lamented, speaking about previous attempts to normalize relations between Ankara and Damascus to eventually return millions of Syrian refugees living in Turkey.
During the normalization talks, Assad repeatedly preconditioned any potential thaw in their ties on the full withdrawal of Turkish troops from Syria – a prerequisite that was rejected by Ankara.
Through the conflict in Syria, Turkey has supported rebel forces, including those with links to al-Qaeda and other extremist groups. Turkey has also launched repeated incursions into Syrian territory, most notably against the Kurds in Afrin in 2018, and continues to occupy large swathes of the country’s north.
“The new administration must be established in an orderly manner. The principle of inclusiveness must never be compromised. There must never be a desire for revenge. It is time to reunite and reconstruct the country,” Fidan said, calling on regional and global powers to “act with prudence and calm” and refrain from inflaming tensions in Syria.
When the war erupted in Syria, Erdogan, then prime minister of Turkey, slammed Assad for committing violence against his own people. Erdogan demanded the removal of the Syrian president from power and labeled him a “terrorist.”
Syrians rose up against Assad’s regime in March 2011, leading to a full-scale civil war that has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and has left millions more in need of humanitarian assistance.
“As of this morning, Syria has reached a stage where the Syrian people will shape the future of their own country. Today, there is hope,” Fidan stressed.
Talks with Syrian Kurds
Fidan was asked by Rudaw about the possibility of negotiating with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who control northeast Syria (Rojava) as well as parts of Deir ez-Zor and Aleppo provinces, to end their hostilities and achieve peace - a possibility he greatly downplayed.
“There are three legitimate Kurdish parties that work together in northern Syria, and they have been part of the broader Syrian opposition for a long time. However, any PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] extension in Syria cannot be considered a legitimate party to engage with any talks in Syria,” Fidan said, with Turkey considering the SDF as a Syrian front for the PKK – designated terrorists by Ankara.
“In short, no, unless they change themselves,” Fidan concluded about the possibility of negotiations.
In a press conference on Friday, SDF General Commander Mazloum Abdi stressed that SDF wants to resolve its problems with Ankara through a peaceful resolution to Syria’s war.
