Turkish foreign minister hosts Syrian counterpart in Ankara; defence ministers sign military cooperation memorandum of understanding.
Turkiye has said that Israel and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) must stop threatening the security and stability of Syria as Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan hosted his Syrian counterpart Asaad al-Shaibani in Ankara.
Speaking at a joint news conference on Wednesday, Fidan accused Israel and the SDF of wilfully undermining the country’s recovery efforts after the devastation of a 14-year civil war and the ouster of longtime leader Bashar al-Assad last December by a lightning rebel offensive.
Fidan said Israel had “fuelled certain difficulties” in Syria and warned that Israeli security “cannot be achieved through undermining the security of your neighbours”.
“To the contrary, you should make sure your neighbouring countries are prosperous and secure,” he said. “If you try to destabilise these countries, if you take steps to that end, this could trigger other crises in the region.”
