Erdoğan is no longer seeking the ousting of Assad, alarming Syrians across the opposition and Kurdish exiles who fear being forcibly returned
The Turkish leader is understood to have been dissuaded from launching a new incursion into the Kurdish north-east of Syria last month after speaking to Putin during a. After failing to win Putin’s blessing, Erdoğan has appeared to resort to diplomacy, while launching drone strikes against what his intelligence officials said are Kurdish rebels.
Kurdish groups in the north-east, backed by the Kurdistan workers’ party , have been bracing for a fresh Turkish incursion, which they fear aims to carve out a new sphere of influence along the border with Turkey, into which Ankara will transfer Arab refugees who have been hosted in Turkey over the past decade.
Direct contact with Assad is unlikely to happen soon, but officials, including intelligence figures, are expected to resume cooperation. “This will be phased,” said a senior official based in Beirut. “The messaging from the Turks is very clear. They want to deal with the PKK, and Assad now has some leverage with them for the first time. But it’s all brokered through Putin though, so he shouldn’t push it too far.
A senior Kurdish official in north-eastern Syria on Monday described Turkey’s rapprochement with Assad as a “trick”
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