TEHRAN – Iran’s top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif told his Turkishcounterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in a phone call that Tehran is opposed tomilitary action in Syria, the foreign ministry said.
“Zarif voiced opposition to military action” and “urged respect for Syria’sterritorial integrity and national sovereignty,” Zarif was quoted as sayingin a statement issued late Monday.
The Iranian foreign minister also “stressed the need for the fight againstterrorism and for the establishment of stability and security in Syria”.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Turkey was poised tolaunch a military operation against Kurdish forces in northern Syria, afterUS President Donald Trump gave him the green light.
Trump’s decision to withdraw US troops from the region has faced strongcriticism in the US, including from his own allies who have accused him ofturning his back on Kurds who took heavy casualties in the US-backedcampaign against the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria.
In their phone call, Zarif told Cavusoglu that the Adana agreement was “thebest approach for Syria and Turkey and for addressing their concerns”.
Ankara and Damascus signed the agreement in 1998 to ease tensions afterTurkey threatened Syria with military action if it did not expelTurkish-Kurdish rebel leader Abdallah Ocalan from its soil.
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For his part, Cavusoglu said the Turkish military operation in northeasternSyria “would be temporary”, according to the statement from the Iranianforeign ministry.
Erdogan has expressed Ankara’s determination to clear the Syrian borderarea east of the Euphrates river of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units(YPG).
Turkey says the YPG is a “terrorist offshoot” of Ocalan’s KurdistanWorkers’ Party (PKK).
The United States worked closely with the YPG to recapture swathes ofterritory from IS. -APP/AFP
