European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday in the capital Ankara, her second stopover in the region. The two discussed the latest situation in Syria after the fall of the Assad regime. The top EU official was in Jordan on Monday where she met Jordan’s King Abdullah.
Erdoğan and von der Leyen held a joint news conference after their meeting. President Erdoğan said at the news conference that Syria should not be allowed to be a bastion for terrorism in the post-Assad era. "We discussed the fight against Daesh and PKK and its affiliates. Türkiye is the only country that managed to defeat both terrorist groups, the only country with this capability within NATO. We will not let those groups be revived. There is no future for Daesh or the PKK and its affiliates in our region," Erdoğan stressed.
For her part, von der Leyen said Türkiye had an important role to play in stability in the region in the aftermath of the fall of the regime in Syria. She also called on other countries to heed Türkiye's legitimate concerns about the threat of terrorism from Syria. She did not elaborate but Türkiye often complains about U.S. support for the terrorist PKK/YPG, which occupied parts of northeastern Syria.
The YPG is the U.S.' primary anti-Daesh partner in Syria, which is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK, a designated terrorist group in the U.S. and Türkiye. Washington's support for the YPG has greatly exacerbated tensions between the two NATO allies. Daesh has been largely inactive in Syria apart from occasional attacks while the PKK/YPG retained key areas in the northeast. In parallel with the anti-regime forces' offensive that spelled the end of the Assad regime in less than two weeks, the Syrian National Army (SNA) of the opposition cleared two areas from the PKK/YPG. The forces now set their sights on Raqqa according to unconfirmed reports. Türkiye helped the opposition forces to clear northern Syrian towns from Daesh and PKK/YPG in successive operations long before the end of the Assad regime. Yet, the PKK/YPG dominated several places including Hasakeh and Ain al-Arab, also known as Kobani. The group recently announced that the United States brokered a truce between them and the SNA though it was unconfirmed.
In the immediate aftermath of the fall of Assad, Türkiye warned against terrorist groups exploiting the security vacuum in the country. Anti-regime forces announced after the capture of Damascus that they would not allow separatists in the country while the defense minister of the interim government called the PKK/YPG to dissolve itself. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan echoed it and said recently that the PKK/YPG would either dissolve itself or would be completely eliminated.
On Syria's future, Erdoğan said they were on the same page with the EU on equal representation of national will in Syria. Also speaking about the recovery of post-Assad Syria, Erdoğan said that the country "can only recover through the assistance of neighboring countries, international community."
"Sixty-one years of oppression and darkness ended but the Baathist regime left a trainwreck behind. We are talking about a Syria tired of 13 years of conflict, a Syria where about 1 million people were killed and half of the population is displaced," Erdoğan said. "Syria should be swiftly recovered through the strong support of its neighbors, friendly countries, the international community including the European Union and international bodies. The international community failed to convey sufficient support to the people of Syria while they were being slaughtered in the past 13 years. Now they can compensate for it through support to reconstruction, recovery of Syria," Erdoğan said.
The president noted that Türkiye and the EU jointly completed many projects for Syrians during 13 years of conflict. "We expect the EU to diversify its support that it used to relieve our burden in the past to facilitate voluntary returns of Syrians. It is also essential that this support would include basic infrastructure investments in Syria so that it can be long-term, comprehensive and sustainable," he said. "We are ready to work together as a country which has been active in Syria's north in many projects," he said.
von der Leyen agreed with Erdoğan and said the people of Syria needed a peaceful transition period. She said their top bureaucrats would visit Syria and they were planning to take more steps. "We have to work for (Syrians') access to basic services. We increased our humanitarian aid to Syria to 160 million euros ($167.84 million) and set up an air bridge for humanitarian aid," she said. She added that the first delivery, through Türkiye, would take place this week.
She also echoed Türkiye's stance on the voluntary and dignified return of Syrian refugees to their country. She also announced an additional 1 billion euros allocated for the return of Syrian refugees. "Türkiye hosted millions of people and we stood with you in these efforts. Since 2011, EU provided almost 10 billion euros for supporting refugees and the host country," she said. Von der Leyen pointed out that an additional allocation would also support health care and education services for refugees in addition to border security and voluntary returns.
The EU last week announced plans to send almost 100 tons of health supplies and other essential items to Türkiye for onward distribution to Syria by United Nations aid agencies. The surprising takeover in Syria has raised questions in the EU about the fate of Syrians seeking refuge in the EU and how to deal with the new leadership in Damascus. The EU and Türkiye both host large communities of Syrian refugees, with over 1 million having been granted international protection in the bloc and around 3 million Syrian refugees living in Türkiye. EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas announced on Monday that an envoy was on his way to Damascus to make contact with the new Syrian leadership. Until recently, Brussels claimed to have no contact with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which was the main group behind the offensive that led to Assad's overthrow. HTS is on the U.N. terror list and subject to EU sanctions. Kallas said time will tell whether this should be changed.
President Erdoğan also spoke about Türkiye's EU membership talks and said it had strategic importance for his country. Von der Leyen, for her part, said Turkish-EU relations were rich and complicated. "Our economic relations are stronger than ever and we would like to increase our 206 billion euros trade volume," she said.
EU leaders will gather in Brussels on Thursday and Erdoğan listed Türkiye's expectations from the major gathering. "We expect decisions to be made for restrictions toward (Türkiye) to be lifted, we expect the suspended high-level dialogue to be revived, customs union to be updated and visa process would be facilitated until full visa liberalization," he said. "Türkiye and the EU need a stronger relationship and as a candidate country, we have the will to achieve it. I believe, under Ms. von der Leyen, the EU will exhibit the same will," Erdoğan stated. "Our EU membership will certainly be a major contribution to the bloc. The latest developments only served to cement Türkiye's role as a key country," Erdoğan said, with reference to the new era in Syria.
