Turkey’s FM doubts SDF’s commitment to Syria integration

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defense Minister Yaşar Güler, and National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Director İbrahim Kalın traveled to Syria for high-level meetings with Syrian officials, the Foreign Ministry announced.

The delegation met in Damascus with Ahmed al-Shara, Syria’s interim president, along with other senior Syrian officials.

Speaking after the meeting, Fidan said Turkey remains open to supporting efforts on the Syrian issue. “We are ready to do whatever we can regarding Syria,” he stated.

Fidan said that Turkey is closely monitoring the outcome of current negotiations between Syria and Israel, which he said was “extremely important for the future of the region.”

“Instead of pursuing expansionist policies, Israel engaging in mutually agreed cooperation with regional countries would contribute to both regional stability and global security,” said the minister.

“It is important that the integration of the SDF into the Syrian army takes place on the basis of dialogue and compromise, in a way that benefits all sides,” he further said. “This process should cease to be an obstacle to a level of stability Syria has perhaps never experienced in its history.”

However, Fidan expressed concerns over the SDF’s stance, stating that “the SDF does not appear to be seriously committed to progress.”

He also claimed that the group’s coordination with Israel in certain activities poses a major challenge to the talks with Damascus.

SDF-Damascus negotiations

While the SDF’s full integration into the Syrian army is anticipated under a Mar 10 memorandum between SDF and Damascus to be implemented by the end of the year. The SDF announced on Dec 18 that a preliminary deal had been reached to incorporate three of its brigades into the Syrian military structure.

The integration talks between the SDF and the Syrian government also carry significance for Turkey’s Kurdish peace process. Ankara maintains that imprisoned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan’s call for disarmament also applies to the SDF, which it considers the Syrian extension of the PKK. The SDF, however, denies any organizational ties to the PKK and argues that Öcalan’s message does not concern them.

(TY/VK)