Türkiye aims for further defense cooperation with Syria

Türkiye seeks to cement its flourishing ties with post-Assad Syria with a win-win approach. It reestablished once frozen relations with Damascus and looks forward to containing potential risk from a U.S.-backed terrorist group while it offers a boost in security capacity to the fledgling administration.

Sources from the Ministry of National Defense said on Thursday that the ministry planned technical visits to Syria on the matter.

“To observe needs on the ground for strengthening Syria’s defense capacity and to create a joint road map, technical visits have been planned,” the ministry sources said.

Sources also reported that a Joint Training and Consultancy Memorandum of Understanding was signed on Aug. 13 to enhance Syria’s defense capacity and foster concrete military cooperation. It added that “within the framework of the agreement, the process of restructuring the Syrian Armed Forces has gained momentum; training, consultancy, technical support and reciprocal visits have been initiated.”

The activities are being carried out in coordination with the Syrian Defense Ministry, including a visit by its Training Department head to Türkiye’s National Defense University and follow-up training initiatives at Syria’s request.

Türkiye views Syria’s stability as “critical for regional peace” and continues to support the principle of “One State, One Army,” the sources said, noting that cooperation is expected to expand in the future with more visits and training.

Ankara has pledged to continue supporting Syria’s political unity and territorial integrity, providing training and technical support upon request from Damascus to strengthen its fight against terrorist groups.

Ankara is closely monitoring the integration of the PKK terrorist group’s Syrian wing, the YPG, into the Syrian army, a process expected to conclude by the end of the year. Turkish officials have said earlier that this development will be decisive for Syria’s long-term security architecture.

The new Syrian government, established after the ouster of former regime leader Bashar Assad on Dec. 8, 2024, has been working to restore order nationwide.

Ankara, which has developed cordial ties with the new leadership, has repeatedly offered operational and military assistance to Damascus to combat Daesh and other terrorist threats. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has vowed that Türkiye “will not allow terrorists to drag Syria back into chaos and instability.”

Türkiye, Syria, Jordan and Iraq have activated the Counter-Daesh Coordination Cell, as announced by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan last month. The joint mechanism aims to eliminate remaining Daesh threats, making it unnecessary for the West to rely on YPG militants in the fight against terrorism.

With security and counterterrorism at the forefront, Ankara views its cooperation with Damascus as central to ensuring a stable, sovereign and territorially unified Syria.

Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa on Sunday noted discrepancies between the PKK terrorist group’s Syrian wing’s, YPG, publicly stated position and their actual on-the-ground actions concerning the March 10 agreement. “At times on the ground, there are signals opposite to what they say in the negotiations,” al-Sharaa said.

His remarks were made during a Wednesday meeting with a delegation from the northern province of Idlib and were aired in a video released on Sunday by the presidency.

Al-Sharaa said that the YPG declares through the media and in negotiations that it is ready to implement the March 10 deal while giving contradictory signals in practice. He noted that discussions are still ongoing regarding the mechanisms for implementing the agreement.

The president said that Syria, the SDF – an umbrella group of various factions dominated by the YPG, the U.S. and Türkiye have reached an understanding under the deal, adding that if these four key players in northeast Syria agree on a matter, it will be implemented.

“These parties are pushing for a solution peacefully. I hope we don’t enter into a dispute. I am hopeful that in a few months we will resolve it,” al-Sharaa said.

He stressed that the agreement carries a deadline for implementation by the end of the year, emphasizing the importance of international support for a peaceful settlement in northeast Syria.

Al-Sharaa voiced optimism that the issue could be resolved within months, reiterating that Syria “will not concede an inch of its land” and will protect the rights of all under state law and the Constitution.

Under the March deal, the YPG would merge with the new Syrian national army. The agreement, which is expected to be implemented by the end of the year, would also bring all border crossings with Iraq and Türkiye, as well as airports and oil fields in the northeast, under the central government’s control.

Detention centers housing thousands of Daesh members, now guarded by the YPG, would also come under government control. However, the agreement left the details vague, and progress on implementation has been slow.

A central sticking point has been whether the YPG would remain as a cohesive unit in the new army or whether the force would be dissolved and its members individually absorbed into the new military.

It marks a significant breakthrough that would bring most of Syria under the control of the government led by the group that spearheaded the ousting of dictator Bashar Assad in December.

The YPG had refused to join the new Syrian Defense Ministry following the fall of the Assad regime in Syria.

The deal, to be implemented by the end of the year, would bring all border crossings with Iraq and Türkiye in the northeast, as well as airports and oil fields, under the control of the central government.

Syria’s Kurds will gain their rights, including teaching and using their language, which was banned for decades under Assad.

Since 2015, the PKK/YPG has occupied several Syrian provinces, including Arab-majority Deir el-Zour, a resource-rich region bordering Iraq, bisected by the Euphrates River and home to dozens of tribal communities.

The terrorist group has forced many locals to migrate, bringing in its members to change the regional demographic structure, conducting arbitrary arrests, kidnapping children of local tribes for forced recruitment and assassinating tribe leaders to yoke local groups.

It has also seized the region’s oil wells – Syria’s largest – and smuggled oil to the Syrian regime, despite U.S. sanctions, to generate revenue for its activities.