TEHRAN —
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pressed his
case for a military offensive against Syria’s Kurds at a summit in Tehran
Tuesday, despite Iran’s supreme leader warning against such a move.
اضافة اعلان
The summit, hosted by Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi
and also attended by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, was ostensibly aimed at
ending more than 11 years of conflict in Syria, where Iran and Russia support
the Damascus government and Turkey supports rebel forces against the regime.
But Turkey is also deeply opposed to a semiautonomous Kurdish
administration in Syria’s oil-rich northeast, and Erdogan has lately repeatedly
vowed to launch an offensive against Kurdish militants, on the back of a 2019
onslaught.
A statement by the three presidents “expressed their
opposition to the illegal seizure and transfer of oil revenues that should
belong to Syria,” while they also “rejected all attempts to create new
realities on the ground ... including illegitimate self-rule initiatives” in
the war-torn country.
The trilateral statement came shortly after Erdogan
had urged Russia and Iran to back his efforts to combat terrorism in
Syria,
contending that “it should be understood clearly that there is no room in our
region’s future for separatist terror organizations.”
“We will continue our fight against terrorist
organizations in the time to come,” he said.
But he had earlier Tuesday earned a rebuke for his
push for an offensive against Syria’s Kurds from Iran’s supreme leader Ali
Khamenei in a bilateral meeting ahead of the summit.
Khamenei told Erdogan such an offensive would be
“detrimental” for the region and called for the issue to be resolved through
dialogue between Ankara, Damascus, Moscow, and Tehran.
It was not immediately clear whether the trilateral
statement at the summit reflected any alteration in Iran’s or Russia’s position
on Turkey’s threatened offensive.
Energy ties, Ukraine grain
Khamenei also on Tuesday
urged strengthened energy cooperation with Moscow in a meeting with Putin.
Russia’s president travelled abroad for only the
second time since ordering Russia’s February invasion of
Ukraine in order to
attend the gathering.
The summit came days after US President Joe Biden
visited the Middle East for the first time in his presidency, with stops in
Iran’s regional foes Israel and oil-rich Saudi Arabia, a country his government
has pressed to increase oil output to ease a price spike related to the Ukraine
war.
Khamenei called for stronger “long-term
co-operation” with Moscow, according to a statement on his official website
that noted both Moscow and Tehran are afflicted by Western sanctions.
Describing such ties as “deeply beneficial to both
countries”, the supreme leader called for bilateral contracts and
understandings in hydrocarbons to be “followed up and implemented fully”.
Prior to Putin’s arrival, the
National Iranian Oil Company and Russia’s Gazprom signed a memorandum of understanding “worth about
$40 billion”, according to the Iranian oil ministry’s official news agency.
Putin and Erdogan also held a bilateral meeting
where the Russian president said he wanted to “thank” his Turkish counterpart
for progress on talks over Ukraine’s grain, according to the Kremlin.
Russia’s war on Ukraine has massively hampered
shipments from one of the world’s biggest exporters of wheat and other grain,
sparking fears of global food shortages.
Turkey — a NATO member on speaking terms with both
Russia and Ukraine — has spearheaded efforts to resume the grain deliveries.
Erdogan has for months been offering to meet Putin
in a bid to help resolve heightened global tensions.
“I want to thank you for your mediation efforts,”
Putin told Erdogan during the bilateral meeting, according to comments released
by the Kremlin.
“We have moved forward,” Putin said, while adding “not
all issues have yet been resolved.”
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned on
Monday that Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports threatens supplies to
countless thousands vulnerable to starvation.
‘Iran-phobia’
On Sunday, a day after Biden
ended his tour of the
Middle East, Iran accused the US of provoking crises in
the region.
Biden had vowed the US would not “tolerate efforts
by any country to dominate another in the region through military buildups,
incursions, and/or threats”, in reference to Iran.
In a speech at a Saudi summit of Gulf Arab states as
well as Egypt, Jordan and Iraq, Biden assured those gathered that the US would
remain fully engaged in the Middle East.
“We will not walk away and leave a vacuum to be
filled by China, Russia, or Iran,” he said
Following the meeting, a joint statement committed
the leaders to “preserve regional security and stability”.
It also underscored diplomatic efforts to prevent
Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, a goal the Islamic republic has always
denied seeking.
On Sunday, Iran accused the US of having “once again
resorted to the failed policy of Iran-phobia, trying to create tensions and
crises in the region”.
The US last week alleged Iran plans to deliver “hundreds of
drones” to Russia to aid its war on Ukraine, an accusation the Islamic republic
dismissed as “baseless”.
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