By Jonathan Spicer
ISTANBUL, Jan 15 (Reuters) – Turkey’s foreign minister said on Thursday he hopes problems in neighbouring Syria can be resolved peacefully but the use of force by the government in Damascus could be an option after recent clashes with Kurdish fighters.
Five days of fighting in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo last week killed at least 23 people, according to Syria’s health ministry, while more than 150,000 fled the two Kurdish-run pockets of the city.
“I hope it doesn’t come to that point … but when problems are not solved through dialogue, unfortunately, I see from here that the use of force is also an option for the Syrian government,” Hakan Fidan told a press conference in Istanbul.
The violence in Aleppo has deepened one of the main faultlines in Syria, where President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s promise to unify the country under one leadership after 14 years of war has faced resistance from Kurdish forces wary of his Islamist-led government.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) must show good intentions and break out of a cycle of violence, Fidan said. Turkey deems the Kurdish forces a terrorist group aligned with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, which is involved in a peace process with Ankara.
Fidan said the PKK’s reluctance to take steps in Syria and Iraq, where the group’s leadership is based, may stem from the group assessing how regional developments will settle, but stressed that Turkey expects progress to be made.
He added that the peace process with the PKK should not become a missed opportunity and that Ankara hopes the process will continue.
(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer, Tuvan Gumrukcu and Huseyin Hayatsever; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Ece Toksabay)
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