Ankara denies mediated talks with Syria

Ankara denies mediated talks with Syria

ANKARA

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Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on June 23 that it was impossible for the country to cooperate with the Syrian regime, refuting claims that Ankara could cooperate with Damascus against the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).

“It is not possible for us to cooperate with a regime which still attacks civilians, hospitals, schools and houses and uses chemical weapons and barrel bombs. Of course, we will continue our fight against DAEŞ [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - ISIL] and the YPG [People’s Defense Units, the military wing of the PYD],” Çavuşoğlu told reporters at a joint press conference with his Maltese counterpart George Vella in the capital Ankara.

The question came after a report in the francophone Algiers daily El Watan appeared in the Turkish media on June 22. 

The report suggested that the country was running a secret mediation mission between Ankara and Damascus for an exchange over the Kurdish question and Syrian Kurds’ desire to form an independent state, quoting a diplomatic source.