Al-Monitor reported: Ankara’s secret talks with Syrian Kurds.
Al-Mayadeen news agency, citing the American website Al-Monitor, wrote that Turkish officials have been holding secret talks with representatives of the Kurdish autonomous government in northeastern Syria since the spring of 2023, and these talks are still ongoing.
Sources informed the American website that the first meetings took place at least twice last year, one in France and the other in Switzerland. Ankara has also begun talks with Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, who has been imprisoned in Turkey since 1999.
Al-Monitor wrote that in the wake of the Turkish local elections in which the Justice and Development Party was defeated by the Republican People’s Party, the Turkish government tried to open channels of communication with Abdullah Ocalan and the autonomous government in Syria to calm the country’s domestic front.
These sources added that Turkey is exploring the possibility of normalizing relations with the Syrian Kurds, which could include reopening border crossings that have been closed since 2012.
Al-Monitor added that these crossings are an important economic artery for autonomous regions, including Arab-majority areas such as Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, which are under the control of the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces.
Al-Monitor reported, citing its sources, that US President Donald Trump’s envoy to Syria, Tom Barak, recently made a phone call with the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, inviting him to continue talks to reduce tensions with Turkey and emphasizing Washington’s support for the Kurdish forces in their fight against the ISIS terrorist group.