US envoy to UN to visit Turkiye’s southern border with Syria

NEW YORK

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield will visit Turkiye’s southern border with Syria this weekend, through which much-needed humanitarian aid is carried to millions of Syrians in the war-torn country.

The visit to the Cilvegozu Border Crossing, located in Hatay province, which lies opposite the Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing on the Syrian side, will take place from Sunday to Monday.

“I am visiting to update myself on the situation at the border so that I am in a better position to defend keeping this border open and pushing for reopening some of the borders,” Thomas-Greenfield told Anadolu Agency in an interview.

Cilvegozu is the only border crossing through which international humanitarian aid is sent to Syria, and the Bab al-Hawa crossing carries the risk of being closed if Russia objects to a future renewal of the cross-border mandate.

Thomas-Greenfield said keeping the border crossing open is in Russia’s interests as well.

“It’s not just in our interests. It is in serious interests that this border remain open,” she said.

The diplomat noted that the US listened to Russia last year and supported the delivery of humanitarian assistance within Syria, adding the aid within Syria cannot meet all of the needs of Syrians, who she said depend on humanitarian aid from the international community.

“So it is my hope that with the Russians we come up with an agreement as we did last year with the current Security Council to extend this border so that we can continue to provide needed humanitarian assistance to the people of Syria,” said Thomas-Greenfield.

She warned that if the border closes, thousands of Syrians in need will starve.

“I don’t think anyone wants to see that happen. So I am focused on success. I’m focused on the goal of keeping this border open. I don’t think there’s any justification for closing the border,” she added.

The US envoy recalled her visit to the Turkish border in June last year, saying she had seen “the kind of monitoring at that border that I’ve never seen anywhere else in the world.”

“Every single box is checked. Every single vehicle is checked. There are hundreds of amazing humanitarian people, UN people who are working at that border to ensure that what is crossing into that border is humanitarian assistance that will feed, nourish and provide needed medical support to the Syrian people,” she said.

“If the border closes. We don’t know what will cross that border. The pressure will be on the Turkish government to support those efforts. And I think that it is crucial that we have the UN continuing to manage what is happening there,” she added.

During her stay in Turkiye, Thomas-Greenfield will not visit Ankara. After her visit at the border, she will head to Brussels to attend a meeting on Syria and hold talks with Turkish officials there.

Ukraine war

Asked about Turkiye’s mediation role between Russia and Ukraine, Thomas-Greenfield extended the US’ support for Ankara’s diplomatic efforts.

“We support Turkiye’s role in trying to find a diplomatic solution to the situation in Ukraine. And we, the US government, had a number of meetings and discussions with Turkish officials on what is being done. And again, we support their efforts and all efforts to find a diplomatic solution to this war.”

* Servet Gunerigok in Washington contributed to this story

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