How Erdoğan's Turkey became the key player in Syria?

Brussels wants to use Ankara's influence to guarantee unity in Syria, as well as to avoid a new confrontation in the northern part of the country.

Transcript

00:00All roads leading to Syria pass through Ankara.

00:09Turkey, one of the biggest winners of regime change in Syria, has indirect military presence

00:14in the country and supported the rebels who seized power last week.

00:20This gives Ankara good access to Syria's new leaders as well as international recognition

00:24as a major player in the country's affairs.

00:28From U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to European Commission President Ursula von

00:32der Leyen, Western leaders are visiting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss

00:36latest developments in Syria.

00:40From the perspective of the EU and President von der Leyen, what choice do you have?

00:45The reality is that today, Turkey is the main outside power broker inside Syria and if you

00:54want to have any influence on events there, you have to work through Turkey.

01:01On Monday, a senior EU diplomat had already made first contact with the provisional government

01:05set up in Syria by HDS.

01:07But for Brussels, it is important to use Ankara's influence to facilitate a smooth transition

01:13that guarantees the unity of the country and respect for all minorities.

01:19If you listen to Turkey, they are ready to play a big role, they are in favor of tolerance

01:27as we are, as Europeans of course, they are in favor of territorial integrity as we are,

01:33but in the case of Turkey, remember that they have lots of troops in the northern part of

01:39Syria.

01:40So how this will unfold, we don't know yet.

01:43And also, in Syria we have the remnants of Islamic State, so security there is very important.

01:51But in northern Syria, there is not just a Turkish buffer zone controlled by the Syrian

01:54National Army, but also a significant area under the control of Kurdish groups, which

01:59are supported by the US.

02:01And Ursula von der Leyen will try to avoid a new confrontation.

02:06She will not want Turkey and particularly the Turkish-aligned rebel militias inside

02:14Syria to aggressively pursue military confrontation with the Kurdish militias, which is another

02:22way of saying she will want Turkey to help create a unified Syrian country and not start

02:31another civil war to pursue in another theater the ongoing Turkish military operation against

02:42Kurdish rebels both inside Turkey, inside Iraq, and today occasionally also inside Syria.

02:49There is also the issue of refugees.

02:52Considered not enough by Ankara, Turkey has received some financial assistance in the

02:55past from the EU and a promise for an additional 1 billion euros to host Syrian refugees.

03:00Now Ankara wants to send them back and this will require stability in the region.