Turkiye's FM: Eliminating PKK in Syria is a matter of time

Shafaq News/ Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Monday that eliminating Kurdistan Workers Party’s fighters in Syria is now “a matter of time.”

In a joint press conference with his Jordanian counterpart, Ayman Safadi, in Ankara, Fidan stressed that the situation in Syria has changed.

Fierce clashes have been ongoing in northern Syria between armed factions supported by Turkiye and Syrian Kurdish forces, including the People's Defense Units (YPG), which Ankara considers an extension of the PKK.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated on Sunday that Turkish forces had "neutralized" 32 members of the outlawed PKK in military operations in northern Syria.

Fidan added that Ankara will reject any arrangements that enable the PKK to sustain its presence.

Earlier, the head of the new Syrian administration, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, met with a delegation from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the military wing of the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration, according to a source familiar with the meeting who spoke to AFP on Tuesday. The source noted that the talks were "positive."

This was the first such meeting between al-Sharaa and Kurdish leaders since the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad in early December 2024, taking place amid ongoing fighting between Kurdish fighters and Turkiye -backed factions in northern Syria.

After ousting Al-Assad, Erdogan had given the Kurdish fighters in Syria an ultimatum: "lay down your arms, or be buried in Syria."