SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, good afternoon, everyone. We're back in the region at a time of both real promise but also peril for Syria and for its neighbors. And the focus of our work here is to coordinate efforts across the region to support the Syrian people as they transition away from Assad's brutal dictatorship. I think as we look at it, it's important to start here in Jordan, because few countries have been as affected by what goes on in Syria as Jordan, but also because Jordan has a critical role to play in supporting the Syrian people in this transition. And what we're focused on is not choosing a path for Syria but making sure the Syrian people have the opportunity to choose their path forward.
I think to succeed and to emerge from the past dominated by Assad, any transitional government has to adhere to certain basic principles. It should be inclusive, non-sectarian. It's got to uphold and protect the rights of all Syrians, including minorities, including women. It has to make sure that it's preserving institutions of the state, delivering services. We have to make sure that any interim government also makes sure that Syria is not used as a base for terrorism, extremism and pose a threat to its neighbors or ally with groups like ISIS. It needs to also ensure that any chemical weapons are secured and destroyed.
These are some of the principles that are really critical to success, critical to laying a foundation for the Syrian people to have a government that can meet its needs and fulfill its aspirations - also critical to unlocking international recognition, international support that Syria very much needs after decades of dictatorship, conflict, corruption, isolation.
I've had many calls over the last days with partners of the region, and everyone's agreed on the need to have a unified approach to advance many of our shared interests. And so here on the ground of the region, we're working to build up and build out that unified approach. That was the basis of my conversation with King Abdullah and Foreign Minister Safadi today here in Jordan. I'll continue those conversations with President Erdogan and Foreign Minister Fidan in Türkiye as we head there going forward.
We're also going to be very focused on preventing any actor inside or outside the country from putting their narrow self-interests ahead of the interests of the Syrian people, especially in this delicate moment. And that includes, of course, ISIS, which no doubt will seek to regroup. And I think it's been demonstrated the United States is determined to prevent that from happening.
We also want to make sure that we're doing everything possible to support those people, those organizations that are working to find the thousands of disappeared people - children, women, and men - during the Assad regime. That includes, of course, the American journalist Austin Tice. We're determined to find him and bring him home his family and loved ones.
This is, I think, as I said at the outset, a moment of tremendous potential opportunity, because for the first time in decades Syria has an opportunity to have a government that is not dominated by a dictator like Assad, that's not dominated by one religion or one ethnic group, that's not dominated by an outside power, that's not dominated by ISIS, but that, in fact, is run by and answers to the Syrian people. And we're determined to do everything we can, working in close coordination with partners, to help the Syrian people realize that aspiration.
With that, happy to take some questions.
MR MILLER: Gordon.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, could you expand a little bit on the conversations you had here in Aqaba? You're shopping these principles around the neighborhood. Did you seek, did you attain any kind of assurances from the Jordanians that they're on board? And then I was wondering if you could just kind of speak to the mechanics, potentially, of a transfer of an American. There's a gentleman who was found recently and then potentially Austin Tice. Roger Carstens is in Beirut. Maybe you could just talk a little bit about that.
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Yeah. So, as I said, what I've taken from the conversations that I've had before coming here, on the phone with virtually all of my counterparts, is a strong desire to get together and get behind a unified approach to Syria, and in particular what all of us would be looking for from any interim government that emerges and ultimately a government of Syria. But these are principles that would be designed to reflect the needs, the aspirations, the will of the Syrian people. Not to dictate what they should do, but to make sure that they have the opportunity to follow their own path. And that's what I'm hearing throughout the region.
So we're having now detailed conversations about what it exactly look like, and I would anticipate that you'll see countries coming together in support of a just basic approach. The G7 countries just put out a statement, but it's so critical, I think, that this process be led by countries in the region in support of the Syrian people, because ultimately this has to be a Syrian-led process.
QUESTION: Do you know what that could look like?
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Stay tuned in the days ahead as we continue to work on this.
In terms of an American citizen who was found just today, I can't give you any details on exactly what's going to happen except to say that we're working to bring them home, to bring them out of Syria and to bring them home. But for privacy reasons, I can't share any more detail than that at this point.
QUESTION: Any update on Austin Tice?
SECRETARY BLINKEN: No update on Austin Tice except to say that every single day we are working to find him and to bring him home, making sure that the word is out to everyone that this a priority for the United States.
MR MILLER: Iain.
QUESTION: Hi Mr. Secretary, thanks for doing this. Are you concerned at all about Israel's widespread airstrikes across Syria and also their maneuvers inside this buffer zone that have created some anger in the Arab world among U.S. partners?
And secondly, I'm wondering what your message will be to Erdogan when it comes to U.S.-backed Kurdish forces who have lost territory in Syria against other militias.
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, first, when it comes to the buffer zone - the buffer zone that came from the 1974 ceasefire agreement - what Israel has said is that the Syrian forces that were on one side of that buffer zone abandoned the area. And Israel was concerned that that vacuum could be filled by terrorists, by extremists, and so it moved forces into the buffer zone. And it's told us and told others that that's a temporary move just to ensure, again, that this vacuum isn't filled by something bad.
When it comes to actions that Israel has taken, the stated purpose of those actions from the Israelis is to try to make sure that equipment that's been abandoned - military equipment that's been abandoned by the Syrian army doesn't fall into the wrong hands: terrorists, extremists, et cetera. But we'll be talking and we - we're already talking with Israel, we're all talking to others about the way ahead.
And when it comes to Türkiye and —
QUESTION: Sorry, just —
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Yeah.
QUESTION: — on Israel, do you support their moves? I mean, that basically destroyed the entire navy. They've gone after a lot of a state assets. And I think a lot of people understand that desire, but there's obviously - people are wondering whether this is kind of overkill to some degree in terms of taking out, say, the entire navy.
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Again, the Israelis have been clear about what they're doing and why they're doing it. I think across the board when it comes to any actors who have real interests in Syria, it's also really important at this time that we all try to make sure that we're not sparking any additional conflicts. That's also an important objective and goal.
And when it comes to what's happening in the northeast, look, Türkiye has real and clear interests, particularly when it comes to the PKK and terrorism, which is an - which is an enduring threat to Türkiye. At the same time, again, we want to avoid sparking any kinds of additional conflicts inside of Syria at a time when we want to see this transition to an interim government into a better way forward for Syria. And part of that also has to be ensuring that ISIS doesn't rear its ugly head again. And critical to making sure that doesn't happen is the so-called SDF, the Syrian Democratic Forces, that we've been supporting. They've been critical in making sure that ISIS is kept at bay; critical also to guarding the detention facilities where thousands of foreign terrorist fighters have been detained for years, keeping them off of the battlefield, keeping them away from rejoining ISIS. That's a critical mission, and it's one that we have to see be pursued going forward.
QUESTION: And will that be the message to Erdogan in —
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, it's certainly one of the things that we'll be discussing, but again, the - all of these conversations are looking to bring all the countries in the region together as well as beyond the region in a unified approach to supporting the Syrian people as they emerge from this dictatorship.
Thanks. Thanks everyone.
