Turkey’s defense ministry said Thursday that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) must give up their arms and integrate into the Syrian army, warning that any refusal to do so threatens both Syria’s territorial integrity and Turkey’s own security and that Ankara would support Damascus if force is required.
Rear Adm. Zeki Aktürk, spokesperson for the Turkish Ministry of Defense, delivered the remarks at a weekly press briefing in Ankara. He said the SDF was “sabotaging the process” and that Turkey would continue working with Syria’s new authorities to ensure the group’s integration into state structures.
“The SDF must comply with the integration process into the Syrian army and must refrain from any action or rhetoric that undermines Syria’s political unity and territorial integrity,” the ministry said in a statement. “Turkey will continue to monitor this process and will provide support to Syria if necessary, both for our own security and for the stability of Syria.”
The statement comes just two days after Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party and a key ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, warned that a cross-border operation would be “inevitable” if the SDF failed to honor its commitments to Damascus. His remarks were widely seen as signaling government readiness for a military intervention.
The SDF is a coalition of militias dominated by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which fought alongside the United States against the Islamic State group. While Washington views the SDF as a key counterterrorism partner, Ankara sees it as inseparable from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged an insurgency inside Turkey since 1984 and is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
The comments point to Ankara’s alignment with Damascus since the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in late 2024. Syria’s transitional government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa has said it wants to fold rival forces into the national army, a position Turkey supports. Turkish officials say that unless SDF fighters join state units, they will remain an obstacle to Syria’s reconstruction and a direct security threat to Turkey.
Pro-government media in Turkey have in recent days reported that Ankara would back Damascus in a potential operation against the SDF if integration talks collapse. Erdoğan has also warned that “if the sword leaves its sheath, there will be no place for the pen,” comments widely read as a message to Kurdish-led forces in Syria.