 to stall a March 10 agreement with Syria’s new government to integrate into Syrian state institutions.){kind=link}
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Thursday that Israel’s actions in Syria are encouraging the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to stall a March 10 agreement with Syria’s new government to integrate into Syrian state institutions.
Fidan made the remarks in an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic, arguing that Israel’s growing activity in Syria has coincided with what he described as an unwilling stance from the SDF. He said the main Kurdish faction inside the SDF, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), had “pulled back” from steps needed to implement the agreement after receiving “different signals from Israel.”
He also suggested that the YPG’s approach is not shaped by the group alone, saying the position “is not a decision taken independently.”
Israel has stepped up strikes and ground action in parts of Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad last year. Ankara has repeatedly criticized those operations, saying they undermine Syria’s stability and unity.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Fidan warned against renewed fighting, saying civilians suffer the most in clashes and urging the YPG and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to fulfill what he called their responsibilities.
Turkey sees the SDF as dominated by the YPG and views the YPG as the Syrian wing of the PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency inside Turkey and is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
Fidan’s comments came before Turkey’s defense ministry issued a similar warning on Friday, without naming Israel.
In a weekly briefing the Turkish Defense Ministry said “some countries’ actions and statements” have encouraged the SDF not to integrate into Syria’s army and not to give up arms. The ministry said the SDF’s attempts to buy time would fail and that “there will be no result” other than integration.
The ministry said it expects SDF members to integrate into Syria’s army “individually, not as a unit,” a position Turkey has repeated for months as talks between the SDF and Damascus have dragged on.
The March 10 agreement, signed by SDF commander Mazloum Abdi and Syria’s leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, set out an eight-point framework to fold the SDF’s civil and military structures in northeast Syria into Syrian state institutions. It also covered border crossings, airports and oil and gas fields and called for a ceasefire across Syria.
The SDF has been the main US partner on the ground in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria and still controls large parts of northeast Syria, including detention sites holding Islamic State suspects.
In the same Friday briefing, the defense ministry pushed back on online claims that Turkey is preparing a fresh military operation in Syria after videos showed Turkish troop movements. The ministry said the images reflected routine unit rotations and said the focus should be on the SDF’s posture and the Syrian army’s actions, not Turkey’s movements.
Turkey has warned it could use military force if the SDF does not comply with the integration deal by the end of 2025. In remarks to Reuters earlier this month, Fidan said signals from the SDF showed it had “no intention” of honoring the March agreement and was trying to sidestep it while insisting there cannot be “two armies” in one country.