Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to visit Syria soon, reviving a trip initially scheduled for April but postponed after the outbreak of the Iran war in February.
Erdogan pledged that Türkiye would do everything possible to bolster stability in its neighbor, stressing that Syria “will not be alone,” according to excerpts from a television interview carried by Turkish media on Sunday.
He predicted that Syrian Kurds would play a role in peace and stability and pledged to strengthen Türkiye’s ties with Kurdish communities across the region.
Erdogan also cited parliament’s approval of legislation on “Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Integration,” known as the “framework law,” allowing members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to return and reintegrate into Turkish society as part of the “Terror-Free Türkiye” process.
The Kurdish side calls the initiative the “Peace and Democratic Society Process,” centered on the PKK’s dissolution and disarmament, along with affiliated groups.
SDF integration
Erdogan’s remarks coincided with comments attributed by the pro-government Türkiye newspaper to Mahmoud Berkhedan, a Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander in Ain al-Arab, or Kobani.
Berkhedan praised Erdogan and his ally, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli, for their role in Türkiye’s new peace process.
According to Berkhedan, 99% of outstanding issues over military integration with Damascus have been resolved, with some 10,000 to 12,000 members of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the main component of the SDF, integrated into the Syrian army.
He added that the YPG would be dissolved within days and the Autonomous Administration structure in northern and northeastern Syria would disappear.
“We have buried our weapons and are not demanding an independent state,” Berkhedan declared. “There is no turning back. We will participate side by side in building a new Syria within one army, one state, one flag and a shared homeland.”
Military integration is nearly complete, he added, though the status of the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) and Turkish nationals serving in the Kurdish forces remains unresolved.
Syria trip
Turkish Ambassador to Damascus Nuh Yilmaz revealed Friday that Erdogan had been considering a visit around April 21, but the Iran war and closure of airspace prevented it.
The date had not been finalized before regional developments intervened, Yilmaz explained, but the trip remains planned and will be announced by the Turkish presidency once arrangements are complete.
He expects Erdogan to visit before the end of the year.
Erdogan last traveled to Damascus in January 2011, when he was Türkiye’s prime minister, about two months before the Syrian uprising and the subsequent rupture in diplomatic relations over Ankara’s opposition to the Assad government’s crackdown on protests.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has made four visits to Türkiye since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, while exchanges between senior officials have increased and political, economic, security and defense ties have deepened.
Yilmaz noted that four strategic security threats along Türkiye’s border — human smuggling, drug trafficking, irregular migration and terrorism — had disappeared since the collapse of the regime.
Trade between the two countries has also risen 40% to $3.75 billion, with a medium-term target of $10 billion. Talks are continuing on a free-trade agreement, joint industrial zones and opening all crossings along the more than 900-kilometer border.
Türkiye’s foreign and interior ministries are also working on new visa arrangements to make it easier for Syrians who have returned home to visit Türkiye, according to Yilmaz.
