Cavusoglu’s remarks came amid reports that other Syrian groups could be invited to a planned conference on Syria’s future.

“The YPG is not the sole representative of the Kurds. Actually it represents only a small portion of them,” Cavusoglu said in an interview with private broadcaster NTV on Dec. 12.

Ankara sees the YPG as an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), therefore a terrorist group.

“[The YPG] forces people into joining its armed group. Kurds currently cannot go back to the 20 percent of the Syrian lands controlled by the YPG. We are not against our Kurdish brothers, we stand with them,” Cavusoglu said, adding that some 300,000 Kurds have escaped to Turkey from the Syrian war, Hurriyet daily reported.

When asked if “Kurdish groups other than the YPG” could join a conference on Syria’s future to be organized by Russia, he sounded positive.

“Iran is also against the YPG’s presence in Syria. We have handed the list of those who represent the Kurds to Russia,” he said.

His remarks followed reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during their meeting in Ankara on Dec. 11 that Syrian Kurdish groups not including the YPG could be invited to the planned conference.

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