Presidential Spokesperson: No Official Contact Between Ankara and Damascus But There Could Be

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Presidential spokesperson İbrahim Kalın held a press conference where he evaluated the developments in Syria.

Kalın answered questions on reports that Syria's army entered Afrin and that the Damascus administration reached an agreement with YPG, on whether there is political contact between Ankara and Damascus, and on the calls for ceasefire in Idlib.

Concerning the news that the Bashar Al-Assad administration and YPG have reached an agreement in Syria, Kalın said:

"There have been news reports enquiring whether the Assad regime and YPG made a deal. We maintained that these should be approached with caution. We saw the incident that took place yesterday, how a convoy of 40-50 vehicles coming from around Aleppo tried to pass to the southern ends of Afrin and then to the city; this was thwarted with artillery fire.

"There will be serious consequences"

"There is no agreement here as claimed. Even if there were, as Turkey we will continue to implement our plans for this offensive with the same determination as before. Such actions of the regime or of other elements will have very serious consequences."

Dialogue with Syria

İbrahim Kalın then took journalists' questions. He gave a measured response to the question of "Will there be contact between Ankara and Damascus," saying:

"Official contact between us and the Damascus regime is out of the question. As the three guarantor states in the Astana framework, we have put in place a mechanism to coordinate developments in Syria. At times, these messages were passed on to the Damascus regime over Russia and Iran. We know that there is indirect traffic, but when extraordinary circumstances call for it, our related units, that is to say, our intelligence service, might make direct or indirect contact to solve certain problems. This is within the principal job description of our intelligence service as it is. Direct dialogue between Ankara and Damascus in the political sphere or in other realms is out of the question."

Russia FM Lavrov: Turkey must meet with Damascus

At the joint press conference after his meeting with Pakistan's Minister of Foreign Affairs in Moscow yesterday, Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had indicated the need for Turkey to engage in direct dialogue with the Damascus regime in order to resolve its security concerns. (HK/PU)