Türkiye proposes regional coalition to fight ISIL : Fidan
ANKARA

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has announced that senior ministers, military and intelligence officials from Türkiye, Syria, Iraq and Jordan will soon come together to create a platform to fight the ISIL terrorist organization and control the prisons in eastern Syria.
Fidan, in a comprehensive interview with the Anadolu Agency on Feb. 5, recalled his earlier meetings with Syrian, Iraqi and Jordanian counterparts where they have discussed how to create a regional mechanism to fight against the presence of ISIL in the region.
“There will soon be a meeting hosted by Jordan with the participation of ministers from these countries in the format of 3+3,” he said, explaining that foreign, defense ministers and intelligence chiefs of these four countries will build this mechanism.
Although it has lost a lot of its capacity, ISIL is still a security concern for Western and regional countries. Currently, YPG, supported by the United States, is fighting ISIL and controls the camps and prisons where ISIL terrorists and family members are kept. Türkiye designated YPG as a terror organization and is currently in talks with the new Syrian leadership on how to disband the group.
Fidan underlined the importance of the regional countries’ engagement with their own problems in the region and drew attention to the importance of cooperation between these four countries.
The initiative comes amid signals of withdrawal of American troops from Syria. United States President Donald Trump has informed about assessment on the American presence in the Syrian theater.
“We hope that the right decision will be made. And we’ll go on like this. Our expectation from the U.S. is to cut its support to YPG and removal of the threat against Syrian national unity,” Fidan stated.
Fidan also informed that the new Syrian leadership under interim President Ahmad al-Shara assured them that they can control the ISIL prisons and the camps where tens of thousands of ISIL family members are kept.
US should lift sanctions
On a question about the ties between Türkiye and the U.S. after Trump came to power, Fidan recalled that Ankara’s main expectation is to lift the sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
The U.S. imposed these sanctions in 2019 in reaction to the Turkish deployment of Russian s-400 air defense systems.
“Our stance concerning the CAATSA is well known. This does not comply with our allied partnership,” he said, recalling that NATO members should not impose sanctions against each other.
These issues will come to the table when Ankara meets with the new authorities in Washington, probably in March, the minister informed. “We are making our preparations in line with the vision of our president,” he stated, stressing that Ankara is mulling how to improve ties with the U.S. in the fields of trade, the defense industry, technology, etc.