12:56 GMT +323 September 2018

Pro-Turkey Syrian fighters and Turkish troops secure the Bursayah hill, which separates the Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin from the Turkey-controlled town of Azaz, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018

Ankara Has No Plans to Restore Ties With Damascus - Erdogan's Spokesman

© AP Photo /

17:01 07.02.2018(updated 17:02 07.02.2018) Get short URL

4212

ANKARA (Sputnik) - The issue of restoring contacts and ties between Syria and Turkey is not on Ankara's agenda and such proposals are unrealistic, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Wednesday.

"We have no relations with the [Syrian] regime and there is no talk about contacts with it. Kilicdaroglu's proposal does not look realistic within the framework of the political transition in Syria. We do not have this issue on our agenda," Kalin told reporters.

The Turkish official added that the Syrian government was responsible for the truce breach in the de-escalation zone in Syria's Idlib province.

READ MORE: Turkish Citizens Stage Protest Near NATO Barracks Amid Op in Syria (PHOTOS)

By Any Means Necessary

Turkish Troops Attack Kurds in Syria; Poor People's Campaign Launches

On Sunday, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the largest Turkish opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), called on the Turkish authorities to restore contacts with the Syrian government to ensure the stabilization of the situation in the region amid Ankara's ongoing military operation in northern Syria. Turkey's offensive in Syrian enclave of Afrin is aimed against Kurdish militias from People's Protection Units (YPG), which are regarded as terrorists by Ankara, and elicited strong condemnation from Damascus as it was considered as an assault on Syria's sovereignty.

READ MORE: One Turkish Soldier Killed, Five Injured as Result of Syria's Idlib Attack

Turkey and Syria severed diplomatic ties in 2012, soon after the beginning of the civil war and escalation of violence in Syria. The government troops are fighting against opposition and terrorist movements, whereas Turkish troops in cooperation with opposition groups loyal to Ankara have also participated in a number of military operations in Syria, mostly against Kurdish militants, such as the ongoing Olive Branch operation in Afrin and the Euphrates Shield operation from August 2016 to March 2017.

Related:: Turkish Troops Attack Kurds in Syria; Poor People's Campaign Launches

: Erdogan: US Presence in Syria's Manbij Aimed Against Turkey, Russia, Iran

: WATCH Turkish Military Vehicles Enter Syria's Aleppo

: Turkish Citizens Stage Protest Near NATO Barracks Amid Op in Syria (PHOTOS)

: Turkish Opposition Calls for Contacts With Damascus to Ensure Peace in Syria

: France Plans to Work With Turkey on Syria 'Road Map'

: Turkish Deputy PM Urges US to Help Avoid Face-Off Between Troops in Syria

Tags:

ties, diplomatic relations, Operation Olive Branch, Turkey, Syria

Community standardsDiscussion

Comment via FacebookComment via Sputnik

Сomment
Thank you! Your comment will be reviewed by the moderator for compliance with the Rules
Add more

Сomment

Community standards

The fact of registration and authorization of users on Sputnik websites via users’ account or accounts on social networks indicates acceptance of these rules.

Users are obliged abide by national and international laws. Users are obliged to speak respectfully to the other participants in the discussion, readers and individuals referenced in the posts.

The websites’ administration has the right to delete comments made in languages other than the language of the majority of the websites’ content.

In all language versions of the sputniknews.com websites any comments posted can be edited.

A user comment will be deleted if it:

does not correspond with the subject of the post;
promotes hatred and discrimination on racial, ethnic, sexual, religious or social basis or violates the rights of minorities;
violates the rights of minors, causing them harm in any form, including moral damage;
contains ideas of extremist nature or calls for other illegal activities;
contains insults, threats to other users, individuals or specific organizations, denigrates dignity or undermines business reputations;
contains insults or messages expressing disrespect to Sputnik;
violates privacy, distributes personal data of third parties without their consent or violates privacy of correspondence;
describes or references scenes of violence, cruelty to animals;
contains information about methods of suicide, incites to commit suicide;
pursues commercial objectives, contains improper advertising, unlawful political advertisement or links to other online resources containing such information;
promotes products or services of third parties without proper authorization;
contains offensive language or profanity and its derivatives, as well as hints of the use of lexical items falling within this definition;
contains spam, advertises spamming, mass mailing services and promotes get-rich-quick schemes;
promotes the use of narcotic / psychotropic substances, provides information on their production and use;
contains links to viruses and malicious software;
is part of an organized action involving large volumes of comments with identical or similar content ("flash mob");
“floods” the discussion thread with a large number of incoherent or irrelevant messages;
violates etiquette, exhibiting any form of aggressive, humiliating or abusive behavior ("trolling");
doesn’t follow standard rules of the English language, for example, is typed fully or mostly in capital letters or isn’t broken down into sentences.

The administration has the right to block a user’s access to the page or delete a user’s account without notice if the user is in violation of these rules or if behavior indicating said violation is detected.

Users can initiate the recovery of their account / unlock access by contacting the moderators at moderator@sputniknews.com

The letter must contain:

Subject - the restoration of account / unlock access
User ID
An explanation of the actions which were in violation of the rules above and resulted in the lock.

If the moderators deem it possible to restore the account / unlock access, it will be done.

In the case of repeated violations of the rules above resulting in a second block of a user’s account, access cannot be restored.

To contact the team of moderators, write to moderator@sputniknews.com