Turkey’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that there is “no other option” than the full integration of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into Syria’s state structure in a way that reinforces the country’s unitary system and the principle of “one state, one army,” the Anka news agency reported.
Speaking at the ministry’s weekly press briefing, Rear Adm. Zeki Aktürk, the ministry’s press and public relations adviser and spokesperson, said Ankara expects the integration process between Syria’s transitional government and the SDF to be quickly completed.
“We are closely monitoring developments on the ground and will take all necessary measures in line with our national interests,” Aktürk said.
The ministry said any outcome must strengthen Syria’s territorial integrity and unitary structure, stressing that there is no alternative to an arrangement based on a single state authority and a unified military command.
The remarks come as efforts continue to implement a ceasefire and integration agreement announced in late January between Syria’s transitional government and the SDF after government troops seized most of the territory that the SDF had controlled in northeastern Syria for over a decade.
According to the agreement, the SDF will withdraw from the front lines, and security forces affiliated with the Syrian Ministry of Interior will enter the cities of Hassakeh and Qamishli in the northeast, after which the process of integrating the SDF and government forces would begin. This would include the creation of a new military formation consisting of three SDF brigades as well as an SDF brigade within a government brigade in Aleppo province.
Meanwhile, local institutions and their employees in the Kurdish-led government of northeastern Syria are to be integrated into state institutions.
Part of the deal saw the transfer of prisons, oil and gas fields, which were under SDF control, to Damascus.
Turkey has long claimed that armed Kurdish-led groups near its border must be dismantled. Ankara views the SDF as linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
While Turkey has welcomed the broader integration plan in principle, it has made clear that it expects the process to eliminate any autonomous or parallel military authority along its southern border.
The push for integration followed the fall of Bashar al-Assad in late 2024 and the formation of a transitional government in Damascus seeking to re-establish state control across the country.
The United States, which partnered with the SDF in the fight against the Islamic State group, has supported a ceasefire and integration framework, saying Syrian Kurds’ “greatest opportunity” lies in full integration into a unified Syrian state.