Ankara-Tehran to enable Syrian gov control over US-backed Rojava: Top Iranian general

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) - Turkey and Iran have reached an agreement to make sure the government of Bashar al-Asad reasserts control over northern Syria where US-backed Kurds fighting the Islamic State (IS) have declared autonomy, said Iranian Chief of General Staff Mohammad Baqeri on Monday.

Speaking to reporters after his return from last week visit to Ankara where he held high-level meetings with Turkish officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his military counterpart Hulusi Akar, Baqeri described American forces' presence in Syria's Kurdish region as "illegitimate."

The Tehran-based private Tasnim news agency reported that Baqeri hoped the two countries could soon implement their agreement which required the dismantlement of the self-declared Kurdish-led autonomy in northern Syria, also known as 'Rojava' or Syrian Kurdistan.

Erdogan's government has long been the most vocal opponent of a yet another Kurdish entity at its southern doorstep after the Kurdistan Region in Iraq and consistently but to no avail tried to dissuade the US from supporting the People's Protection Units (YPG), the Kurdish military group that is spearheading the war on IS in Syria.

The Shia Islamic Republic of Iran and the pro-Sunni Turkish government have stood at opposite sides during much of the six-year-long Syrian civil war, with the former supporting the Alawite Assad regime while the latter sponsored Islamist groups fighting to overthrow it.

The NATO ally Ankara's alienation from the US due to a deepening Kurdish-American alliance led Erdogan to court Assad's two primary backers Iran and Russia.

Baqeri's remarks regarding Rojava followed Erdogan's revelation that Iran and Turkey have also agreed to conduct an "imminent" joint operation against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), another armed Kurdish guerrilla force fighting both governments for self-rule.

On prospects of Kurdistan Region's secession from Iraq through a referendum on September 25, Baqeri reiterated that he and the Turkish officials shared the same view; that Iraqi borders should not change and such a step meant more a "conflict that could spill over Turkey and Iran."

Meanwhile, Turkish Chief of General Staff Akar would pay a visit to Tehran to “complete and conclude the negotiations” held during Baqeri's meetings in Ankara, said Tasnim.

There was no confirmation of any visit by Akar to Iran from the Turkish sides at the time of publishing this report.

Editing by Ava Homa