Erdogan says no contact with regime ‘at the moment’

ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said there was no contact “at the moment” between Ankara and the Syrian government despite both sides’ opposition to Syrian Kurdish militia, in comments reported on Friday.

The Turkish leader said Russian President Vladimir Putin told him that Syrian counterpart Bashar Al-assad “negatively” viewed Syrian Kurdish armed groups, in an interview published in Hurriyet and Milliyet papers.

Putin met Assad earlier this week at the Black Sea resort of Sochi before a summit with Erdogan and Iranian President has sanro uh anion wednesday aimed at inding a political settlement to the Syria conlict.

Ankara has opposed ass ad throughout the conlict and previously accused the Syrian leader of war crimes.

But Moscow and Iran have provided military support to help forces loyal to Assad reclaim territory in the conlict, which has raged since 2011.

Putin announced on Wednesday plans for a congress − agreed at Sochi − to bring together the different sides in an attempt to reinvigorate a hobbled peace process.

Erdogan said the Russian leader told him that Assad did not want the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing ighting in Syria, the Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG), to take part in peace talks.

The YPG − which the US sees as the most effective force on the ground against the Islamic State group − controls a large part of northern Syria.

Turkey views the PYD/YPG as “terror” groups linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), waging an insurgency inside Turkey since 1984.

Erdogan has repeatedly vowed not to allow the YPG to form a “terror corridor” on its southern border.