Turkey’s pursuits in Syria were addressed by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, stating that Ankara’s strategic goal is the extermination of the YPG Kurds.

The People’s Protection Units (YPG) have been a central element of US-allied forces in the coalition against Islamic State militants. Turkey maintains that the YPG is a terrorist group, closely linked to Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants who have fought the Turkish state for 40 years.

At the same time, Fidan announced that Turkey’s embassy in Damascus would resume operations on Saturday, adding that the diplomatic delegation had gone to Syria.

“We want to see a Syria without terrorism, where minorities will not be mistreated. We want an inclusive government in Syria,” he said in an interview broadcast live on NTV television on Friday.

The number of Syrians in Turkey returning to their country will gradually increase as Syria stabilizes, the Turkish minister said.

We convinced Iran and Russia not to intervene

Turkey persuaded Russia and Iran “not to intervene” in Syria during the rebel offensive that led to the fall of Bashar al-Assad, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan claimed today in an interview broadcast by NTV channel.

“The most important thing was to talk to the Russians and the Iranians and make sure they didn’t intervene militarily in the equation. We talked to the Russians and the Iranians, they understood,” Fidan said. “In order for there to be as little loss of human life as possible, we tried to do it without bloodshed, continuing targeted negotiations with two important actors, able to use their power,” he added.

For Fidan, if Bashar al-Assad received help from Russia and Iran, there was a risk that “the victory of the opposition (…) would take a long time and be bloody.”

“But the Russians and the Iranians saw that there was no point. They invested in the wrong person. Moreover, the conditions in the region, as well as globally, are not the same,” he said.

Within eleven days of launching the offensive, the rebel coalition led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham captured Damascus and ousted Assad, who fled with his family to Russia.