The US and Turkey are to increase their co-operation on Syria to deal with “a range of contingencies”, including co-ordinating military and intelligence operations.
Speaking in Istanbul after a two and a half-hour meeting US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said they would work together with other parties to hasten an end to the increasing violence in Syria and to plan for “all contingencies” including the possibility of Syria using its chemical weapons.
“We agreed to have very intensive operational planning. Our two ministries are coordinating but now we need to get into the real details of operational planning across both of our governments,” said Mrs Clinton.
“Our intelligence services and our military have very important responsibilities and roles to play,” she said explaining that a joint US Turkish working group was being set up.
“In the horrible event that chemical weapons were used, we discussed what that would mean in terms of response and of humanitarian and medical emergency assistance and what would need to be done to secure those stocks and prevent them being used or falling into the wrong hands,” she said.
Mrs Clinton detailed three specific areas in which the US and Turkey had agreed to deepen co-operation: the need to support Syrian opposition groups, the need to provide humanitarian aid to Syrians caught up in the worsening conflict and the need to prepare for the creation of a post-Assad Syrian state.
“The Syrian people must lead the transition and they need to maintain the integrity of the country’s political institutions,” she said, explaining that she had that morning met with a group of Syrian activists, legal experts, journalists and student leaders in an effort to find out what the US could do to help them.
We worry about terrorists PKK, al-Qaeda and others taking advantage of the legitimate fight of the Syrian people for their freedom to promote their own agendas to launch attacks against others
Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, said that the two sides were in agreement over possible responses to the emergence of a power vacuum in Syria which could be exploited by groups such as the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been reported to have moved forces from Northern Iraq to North Syria, with the possible intention of establishing an autonomous Kurdish region in north east Syria and using it to launching attacks on Turkey.
“We share the same views on what needs to be done should terrorist groups such as the PKK seek to exploit a power vacuum in Syria,” he said, a position which was echoed by Mrs Clinton.
“We worry about terrorists PKK, al-Qaeda and others taking advantage of the legitimate fight of the Syrian people for their freedom to promote their own agendas to launch attacks against others,” she said. “We stand firmly with Turkey against the PKK.”
Separately Mrs Clinton praised Turkey for its humanitarian response to the worsening situation in Syria.
“I cannot say enough about what Turkey is doing to support the victims of this unrelenting cruelty. The government is providing Syrian refugees with shelter, food and access to health and education at very great financial cost,” she said.
Mrs Clinton announced that the US was contributing a further $5m to the UNHCR and a further $500,000 to help support displaced Syrians inside Turkey bringing its total contribution to aiding Syrian refugees to $82m.
Mrs Clinton went on from the press conferences to meetings with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish President Abdullah Gul.
Approximately 55,000 Syrian refugees are being housed in camps in southern Turkey with another 2,000- 3,000 arriving daily.
Arab foreign ministers will meet on Sunday in Jeddah to discuss developments in Syria and selecting a replacement for Kofi Annan, the United Nations-Arab League envoy, Reuters reported, citing Egyptian state TV.
The meeting comes before Muslim leaders meet in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit.
“Arab foreign ministers will hold a meeting tomorrow in Jeddah to discuss who will be appointed as a successor to Annan,” said Ahmed Ben Helli, deputy Arab League chief.
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