Turkey maintains 'low-level' contact with Syria: Erdogan

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has confirmed for the first time that Turkey has maintained direct low-level contact with the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

"Foreign policy is being conducted with Syria at a lower level," Erdogan said in an interview with the state-run TRT television on Sunday, adding spy agencies could maintain links even if their leaders did not.

"Even if it's your enemy, you will not entirely break ties in case you might need them," he said, but ruled out any direct talks with President Assad.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said late last year that Ankara was only in contact with the Damascus government through third parties, namely Russia and Iran.

Ankara broke off ties with the Syrian government at the start of the foreign-backed militancy in 2011 and called for the ouster of President Assad.

However, it has moderated its initial hostility toward Damascus and been working with Iran and Russia to restore peace to Syria within the framework of the Astana talks. 

During his last meeting with Erdogan in Moscow on January 23, Russian President Vladimir Putin encouraged the Turkish leader to establish contact with the Syrian leadership in line with a security pact the two nations signed in 1998.

Asked about the US plan to withdraw American troops from Syria, Erdogan said he hoped Washington would pull out its forces soon.

He warned that Turkey “will do whatever is needed” to avert any threat posed by US-backed Kurdish militants in case the United States does not implement its planned withdrawal.

In December, Trump announced to withdraw around 2,000 US forces from Syria amid preparations by Turkey to launch an operation against the Kurdish militants in northern Syria.

Turkey is pushing for a 32 km "security zone" or "safe zone" on the Syrian side of the 900-kilometer joint border after receiving US backing.

PressTV-Turkey to set up safe zones in Syria: President Erdogan

Turkey says it will form safe zones in northern Syria so that millions of Syrian refugees hosted by the Ankara government could return to their home country.

In the interview, Erdogan showed the negotiated "security zone" on the map, saying it would stretch from Jarabulus in northern Syria to the Iraqi border.

He called on Washington to hand over the zone's security to Turkish forces. “We cannot leave the safe zone to coalition forces,” Erdogan said.

“Such a safe zone should be entrusted to Turkey. We’ll then provide the security of that zone,” he said.

“We don’t support the disintegration of Syrian people, but unfortunately, coalition forces aren’t bothering with that,” he added.

Erdogan further said that he would meet with Putin in the Russian city of Sochi on February 14.

The summit would come as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced late January that the next round of peace negotiations for Syria within the Astana format would be held in the Kazakh capital in mid-February.

He added that the 12th Astana talks would be attended by the three guarantor nations of the peace process, namely Russia, Iran, and Turkey, as well as observers from Jordan and the United Nations.

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