THE Donald Trump decided yesterday Monday that the Turkey holds – and will continue to hold – “the key to developments” in Syria, where an alliance of rebel groups backed in part by Ankara earlier this month toppled the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

The American president-elect said that Turkey made an “unfriendly takeover” in Syria (the term he used was “unfriendly takeover”, it comes from the business world, usually attributed to “aggressive takeover”).

“Turkey is very smart. He’s a very smart guy, very persistent,” said Mr. Trump, referring to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“Turkey made an unfriendly seizure of control without many lives being lost. I can say that Assad was a butcher,” he added.

Also, seeming to refer to the Ottoman Empire, which once occupied today’s Syria, Mr. Trump — who will be sworn in and take office on January 20, 2025 — said Turkey “wanted it for thousands of years and now they have it, the people they took over are controlled by Turkey” and that “is fine.”

Currently, “Syria has — you know, there are a lot of ambiguities (…) I think Turkey will hold the key (of developments) in Syria,” the Republican said.

Turkish President Erdogan “is someone I get along with very well”, he also assured, noting that he has created a “very strong army”, which has not “suffered deterioration” by waging war.

Turkey controls large swathes of northern Syria after a series of incursions and operations against mainly Kurdish YPG fighters, while supporting rebel groups fighting to topple President Assad. It maintains communication channels with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, the former arm of Al-Qaeda in Syria), which is classified as a terrorist organization by most Western countries.

After the fall of the Assad regime, Washington and Ankara held talks focused on preventing the strengthening of Islamic State (IS) jihadists, according to the governments of the two countries. Washington keeps about 900 troops deployed in eastern Syria for this. They work closely with the YPG faction, the dominant force in the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which has repeatedly caused sharp friction with Ankara.

Asked about the US military in Syria, Mr. Trump avoided giving a specific answer yesterday.

On Sunday, Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler said Ankara was “ready” to offer military aid to the next Syrian government if it wanted to fight Kurdish separatists, which he described as a common pursuit. For Ankara, the SDD is a “terrorist” organization.

On the contrary, Washington considers this faction “critical” for preventing new IS reinforcements. The SDF spearheaded operations against the jihadist organization on Syrian soil.

Mr. Guler said that we “expect” our “American friends” to “reconsider their positions”.

There has been no official reaction from Washington so far.