The Turkish government is cautiously optimistic about an agreement between the Kurdish-led and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Syria’s new administration, a Turkish official stated, saying it wanted to first notice how it would be enforced.
The SDF, a group that controls much of northern Syria and which Turkey considers a terrorist organisation, has marked a deal to join Syria’s new state institutions, the Syrian presidency said. The accord enables SDF-controlled civilian and military establishments in northeast Syria to be absorbed into the state, and for border checkpoints, an airport, and oil and gas domains in Syria’s east to join the Damascus administration.
The move comes as Damascus struggles with the aftermath from mass killings of Alawite minority members in western Syria – violence that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa stated threatened his measures to unite Syria after 14 years of confrontation.
“We are cautiously optimistic about the accord. Beyond the agreement that was reached, we are looking at how it will be implemented at this stage,”
the official revealed.
“The terrorist organisation has made promises before too, so we are looking at implementation rather than an expression of intent here.”
In the years since rebels, some of whom were supported by Turkey for years, expelled former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last year to conclude his five-decade rule, Ankara has become one of the leading foreign partners of the new Islamist government in Damascus.
Ankara, which still holds large areas in Syria’s north after cross-border processes against the YPG militia that dominates the SDF, has repeatedly insisted that the YPG turn over its weapons, and for any non-Syrian soldiers in the militia to exit the country.
According to Turkish officials, the accord did not change Turkey’s determination in counter-terrorism.
“It is unacceptable for these people (YPG) to enter Syrian institutions without breaking their chain of command. Then there is a chain of command within a chain of command. It is important for them to be integrated, not enter while continuing to be the YPG,”
the official said.
The Turkish official said discussions at the weekend between Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Jordan in Amman about security collaboration between the four nations, including specifying an operations centre, communicating intelligence and transferring prisoners from prison camps where the SDF holds Islamic State fighters, were effective in the SDF-Damascus agreement being ratified as well.
The deal between the SDF and Damascus also follows a statement from the Kurdish PKK militant group declared earlier this month that it would cease hostilities against the Turkish state, following a plea from its jailed leader to demilitarise.
