Erdogan Highlights Turkey’s Contacts with Syrian Government

By Staff, Agencies

Earlier in December, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Ankara was only in contact with Damascus through third parties, such as Russia and Iran.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that Ankara maintains relations with Syria through the two countries' intelligence agencies, which he said could maintain links even if their leaders did not.

"Foreign policy is being conducted with Syria at a low-level. Even if it's your enemy, you will not entirely break ties in case you might need them," he told state-run TRT television.

The two countries severed diplomatic ties in 2012 following the outbreak of armed conflict in Syria.

The Turkish government considers the Kurdish People's Protection Units [YPG] in Syria to be part of the Kurdistan Working Party [PKK], a group blacklisted as a terrorist organization in Turkey.

For his part, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said at the time that Damascus does not consider Ankara to be its partner or a guarantor state of the Syrian settlement, given that Turkey ‘supports terrorism and thus undermines the peace process in Syria.’