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Turkish FM: "Ankara will boycott upcoming Geneva talks on Syria if PYD is invited"

26 January 2016 17:29 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt ÇavuÅŸoÄŸlu stated Tuesday that if the PYD is invited to the Syria peace talks in Geneva, Turkey will boycott the meetings, APA reports quoting Anadolu agency.

Speaking in a live interview at Turkish broadcaster NTV, ÇavuÅŸoÄŸlu stressed that Turkey, along with other countries in the Gulf region, is against the PYD to be included into the Syrian opposition side in the Geneva talks, which is expected to bring together opposing forces of the Syrian civil war on Jan. 29.

"In which character will PYD be included to table in Geneva? There are efforts to water down Syrian opposition. PYD is a terror organization, just like Daesh and Nusra" ÇavuÅŸoÄŸlu said.

ÇavuÅŸoÄŸlu, who was in Strasbourg to attend the sessions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and to conduct negotiations, also spoke to the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond on the phone over the invitations to the Geneva talks. He also spoke with Kerry and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Sunday regarding Syria talks.

Earlier in the day, UN's Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said in a statement that invitations were sent to participants to start talks as of Friday, Jan. 29 in Swiss city of Geneva.