Security for Kurds ‘essential’ for Syria to have secure future: German FM

Security for the Kurdish people is critical for Syria to have a secure future, Germany Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told her Turkish counterpart in Ankara on Friday.

“Security, especially for Kurds, is essential for a free and secure future for Syria,” she told journalists after meeting Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, warning of the dangers of any “escalation” with Kurdish forces in Syria.

Earlier Friday, Baerbock raised the alarm over fresh violence in northern Syria, where Turkish troops and Ankara-backed fighters have been battling the Syrian Defense Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led group supported by the US.

Ankara sees the SDF as an extension of its domestic nemesis, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). On Thursday, a defence ministry source said Turkey would not back down until the Kurdish fighters disarm.

As opposition forces pressed their lightning 12-day offensive that toppled Bashar al-Assad on December 8, Turkish-backed fighters began a parallel operation against Kurdish-led forces in the north, sparking clashes that left hundreds dead in just a few days.

“Thousands of Kurds from Manbij and other places are on the run in Syria or are afraid of fresh violence,” the German minister said.

“I made it very, very clear today that our common security interests must not be jeopardised by an escalation with the Kurds in Syria.”