Türkiye, US to work together on Syria differences

Türkiye and the United States have discussed what roles they can play for ensuring a healthy, inclusive and stable power transition in Syria despite their differences on the continued support of Washington to the YPG terrorist organization.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken paid a two-day visit to Ankara where he met President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

The talks between the two allies were overwhelmingly focused on Syria following the Assad rule's collapse on Dec. 8.

"Stabilizing Syria as soon as possible, eliminating terrorism and preventing the dominance of DAESH and PKK are among our priorities," Fidan said in a brief statement after his meeting with Blinken on Dec. 13.

"What can we do on all this? What are our common concerns and what solutions can we find to address them? We have discussed these issues in detail."

Stressing that this might be the last visit of Blinken to Ankara under his current capacity, the minister thanked his counterpart for his efforts for the bilateral ties.

US underlines importance of fight against ISIL

For his part, Blinken stressed the importance for the Syrian people to make good use of the opportunity from the collapse of the Assad regime by reaching out for a better future for the country.

He stressed that there was general consensus between Ankara and Washington on what kind of a new Syria they want to see. The main point of difference between the two capitals is, however, the role of the YPG.

According to a statement by the Communications Directorate after the Erdoğan-Blinken meeting, the Turkish president made clear that "primarily for its national security, Türkiye will take preventive measures against all...