No question Türkiye is 'significant' player in Syria's future — White House

The White House has said there is "no question" that Türkiye is a "significant" player in Syria after the fall of the Assad regime.

"There's no question that the Turks are significant players here in whatever the outcome in Syria is going to be, as they have been over the course of the last 14 years," National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Monday.

"That's why we continue to have conversations with them at all different levels about what they're doing, what their concerns are. As I have said in the past, they have legitimate concerns with a terrorist threat along that border with Syria. Turkish citizens have fallen victim to terrorist activities there. You can't very well blame the Turks for being concerned about that threat," he added.

Kirby also said Washington would continue to talk with Ankara about their goals and concerns.

"As there's a need to deconflict and to work through some of those overlapping concerns, well, we'll do that because Türkiye is, as you rightly said, a NATO ally," he said.

"They have had, legitimately so, have had a large interest in what's going on in Syria. We recognise that. We also recognise that sometimes their goals aren't exactly the same as ours, and so we talk to them about that and will continue to do so," he added.

Türkiye will hold the key

The comments came shortly after President-elect Donald Trump said that Türkiye would "hold the key" for Syria's future.

He hailed Türkiye as "a major force" and hailed his personal relationship with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"Erdogan is somebody I got along with great," Trump told reporters, adding that Ankara has "built a very strong, powerful army."

Numerous foreign policy analysts and commentators have said Türkiye emerged with a stronger hand from the recent events in Syria, where the US has long partnered with the PKK-led SDF for its so-called fight against Daesh.

Kirby said the US would maintain its support for the YPG/PKK-led SDF, its primary Syrian partner in the so-called fight against Daesh.

The PKK is classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, and Türkiye.