Syrian Kurdish Commander in Touch with Türkiye, Open to Meeting Erdogan

Commander of Syrian Kurdish-led forces Mazloum Abdi, attends an interview with Reuters in Hasakah, Syria December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman/File Photo
Commander of Syrian Kurdish-led forces Mazloum Abdi, attends an interview with Reuters in Hasakah, Syria December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman/File Photo
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Syrian Kurdish Commander in Touch with Türkiye, Open to Meeting Erdogan

Commander of Syrian Kurdish-led forces Mazloum Abdi, attends an interview with Reuters in Hasakah, Syria December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman/File Photo
Commander of Syrian Kurdish-led forces Mazloum Abdi, attends an interview with Reuters in Hasakah, Syria December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman/File Photo

The commander of Kurdish forces that control northeast Syria said on Friday that his group is in direct contact with Türkiye and that he would be open to improving ties, including by meeting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

The public comments represented a significant diplomatic overture by Mazloum Abdi, whose Syrian Democratic Forces fought Turkish troops and Ankara-backed Syrian opposition during Syria's 14-year civil war.

Türkiye has said the main Kurdish group at the core of the SDF is indistinguishable from the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which decided earlier this month to disband after 40 years of conflict with Türkiye.

Abdi told regional broadcaster Shams TV in an interview aired on Friday that his group was in touch with Türkiye, without saying how long the communication channels had been open.

"We have direct ties, direct channels of communication with Türkiye, as well as through mediators, and we hope that these ties are developed," Abdi said. There was no immediate comment from Türkiye on Abdi's remarks, according to Reuters.

He noted his forces and Turkish fighters "fought long wars against each other" but that a temporary truce had brought a halt to those clashes for the last two months. Abdi said he hoped the truce could become permanent.

When asked whether he was planning to meet Erdogan, Abdi said he had no current plans to do so but "I am not opposed... We are not in a state of war with Türkiye and in the future, ties could be developed between us. We're open to this."

The Al-Monitor news website reported on Friday that Türkiye had proposed a meeting between Abdi and a top Turkish official, possibly Türkiye's foreign minister or its intelligence chief.

A Turkish diplomatic source denied the report, saying "the claims about Türkiye and our country's authorities" in the story were "not true", without elaborating.

In December, Türkiye and the SDF agreed on a US-mediated ceasefire after fighting broke out as rebel groups advanced on Damascus and overthrew Bashar al-Assad.

Abdi in March signed a deal with Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa to incorporate the semi-autonomous administration of northeast Syria into the main state institutions based in Damascus.

On Thursday, Erdogan accused the SDF of "stalling" implementation of that deal.

In the interview, Abdi denied accusations that the SDF was in contact with Israel.

"People have accused us of this. In this interview, I am saying publicly that we have no ties with Israel," he said.

But he said his group supported good ties with Syria's neighbours. When asked if that included Israel, Abdi responded, "with everyone."



In Gaza, Summer Heat Amplifies the Daily Struggle to Survive

Palestinians carry bags containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians carry bags containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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In Gaza, Summer Heat Amplifies the Daily Struggle to Survive

Palestinians carry bags containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians carry bags containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

For Rida Abu Hadayed, summer adds a new layer of misery to a daily struggle to survive in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.

With temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), daybreak begins with the cries of Hadayed’s seven children sweltering inside the displaced family’s cramped nylon tent. Outside, the humidity is unbearable.

The only way the 32-year-old mother can offer her children relief is by fanning them with a tray or bits of paper — whatever she can find. If she has water, she pours it over them, but that is an increasingly scarce resource, The Associated Press said.

“There is no electricity. There is nothing,” she said, her face beaded with sweat. “They cannot sleep. They keep crying all day until the sun sets.”

The heat in Gaza has intensified hardships for its 2 million residents. Reduced water availability, crippled sanitation networks, and shrinking living spaces threaten to cause illnesses to cascade through communities, aid groups have long warned.

The scorching summer coincides with a lack of clean water for the majority of Gaza’s population, most of whom are displaced in tented communities. Many Palestinians in the enclave must walk long distances to fetch water and ration each drop, limiting their ability to wash and keep cool.

“We are only at the beginning of summer,“ Hadayed’s husband, Yousef, said. “And our situation is dire.”

Israel had blocked food, fuel, medicine and all other supplies from entering Gaza for nearly three months. It began allowing limited aid in May, but fuel needed to pump water from wells or operate desalination plants is still not getting into the territory.

With fuel supplies short, only 40% of drinking water production facilities are functioning in the Gaza Strip, according to a recent report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. All face imminent collapse. Up to 93% of households face water shortages, the June report said.

The Hadayeds were displaced after evacuation orders forced them to leave eastern Khan Younis.

“Our lives in the tent are miserable. We spend our days pouring water over their heads and their skin,” Yousef Hadayed said. “Water itself is scarce. It is very difficult to get that water.”

UNICEF’s spokesperson recently said that if fuel supplies are not allowed to enter the enclave, children will die of thirst.

“Me and my children spend our days sweating,” said Reham Abu Hadayed, a 30-year-old relative of Rida Abu Hadayed who was also displaced from eastern Khan Younis. She worries about the health of her four children.

“I don’t have enough money to buy them medicine,” she said.

For Mohammed al-Awini, 23, the heat is not the worst part. It's the flies and mosquitoes that bombard his tent, especially at night.

Without adequate sewage networks, garbage piles up on streets, attracting insects and illness. The stench of decomposing trash wafts in the air.

“We are awake all night, dying from mosquito bites,” he said. “We are the most tired people in the world.”