Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has hinted at the possibility of holding a meeting with his Russian and Syrian counterparts.
This was stated by Akar, at a press conference yesterday, commenting on what was previously announced by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the possibility of holding meetings at ministerial level after the phase of contacts between the intelligence services both in Turkey and in Syria: “Everything that being done is done according to procedures at all levels”. To protect the rights and interests of our country, there are also contacts in this area.
He added: “He inquires about this matter when and where it takes place… It is necessary not to ignore the meetings… We are not closed… The dialogue continues… Sometimes it develops into a meeting between ministers, sometimes it’s a meeting with intelligence units, and sometimes it happens differently.” Otherwise, we are determined to control the pitch and work at the table as effectively as possible.
And whether a possible ground operation against targets of Kurdish forces in northern Syria is still on the table, Akar said: “There is fieldwork on the table, and it is continuing without interruption.”
Akar confirmed that Turkey is in talks with Russia to use the airspace over northern Syria.
Turkey has carried out several incursions into northern Syria against the People’s Protection Units, and has been threatening a new attack for months. Ankara stepped up preparations last month after a bomb attack in Istanbul, for which it held Kurdish militants responsible.
Meanwhile, military operations and attacks on lines of contact between Syrian regime forces and opposition factions have resumed in Idlib and the Aleppo countryside in northwestern Syria, after about two and a half years of calm and the cessation of military clashes between the two parties and 8 members of the regime forces were killed in new offensive operations and sniping by opposition factions.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights instead reported that a Turkish suicide march yesterday targeted a farm near the village of Khazimuk, north-east of Al-Qahtaniya, in the Qamishli countryside, north of Al -Hasakah.
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