Eurasia Press & News
Turkey’s message to Damascus is clear: it supports Syrian reunification, so long as Kurdish military autonomy is eliminated, al-Hal writes.
In an unannounced and diplomatically charged visit, Turkish Intelligence Chief İbrahim Kalın arrived in Damascus on Tuesday, marking a significant development in Ankara’s evolving approach to Syria. The visit—confirmed by Turkish media as part of Turkey’s efforts to deepen diplomatic engagement with the transitional Syrian government—featured high-level meetings with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani, and Intelligence Director Hussein al-Salama.
According to the Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency, the talks centered on several critical and sensitive issues, including U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent decision to lift all sanctions on Syria, strategies for combating the Islamic State (ISIS), and the handover of detention camps holding ISIS fighters from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to the central Syrian authorities.
This visit came less than a week after President Trump’s landmark meeting with Sharaa in Riyadh, during which Trump urged Syria to assume full responsibility for the ISIS camps in the northeast—facilities that have long been under the de facto control of the SDF with backing from the U.S.-led international coalition.
Citing sources from CNN Türk, Kalın reportedly assured Damascus of Turkey’s readiness to provide all necessary assistance in managing prisons and detention facilities, signaling Ankara’s growing interest in stabilizing central governance structures in Syria. Kalın also stressed the importance of restoring centralized control over border crossings and customs points, emphasizing Turkey’s support for Syrian territorial integrity and unified decision-making authority.
The discussions further addressed Israel’s ongoing strikes inside Syrian territory, regional developments, and efforts to ensure the voluntary and safe return of Syrian refugees—a central component of Turkey’s domestic and foreign policy agenda.
The Turkish intelligence chief’s visit coincided with a delegation led by Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Nuh Yılmaz arriving in Washington for interagency talks headed by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, a development that underscores an emerging Ankara-Washington alignment on Syria policy following Trump’s sanctions reversal.
One of the more delicate topics broached in Damascus was the future of the Kurdish-led SDF. Kalın reiterated Ankara’s long-held demand for the group to disarm and integrate into the new Syrian state structure—echoing comments made earlier this month by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. In those remarks, Fidan confirmed Turkey’s support for the March agreement signed between President Sharaa and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi, which comprises eight articles aimed at integration and national reconciliation.
“Kurds in Syria deserve full constitutional and equal citizenship rights,” Fidan stated, while also insisting that the military structures of the Kurdish YPG—the backbone of the SDF—must be dismantled and all arms handed over to the Syrian national army.
Kalın’s visit signals a marked shift in Turkey’s Syria policy. Once unyielding in its designation of the SDF as a terrorist entity, Ankara now appears willing to tolerate the group’s presence—on the condition of its military dissolution and political integration. This pragmatic recalibration seeks to exploit growing alignment between Damascus and the Kurds as a platform for Turkish-Syrian cooperation.
At its core, Turkey’s message to Damascus is clear: it supports Syrian reunification, so long as Kurdish military autonomy is eliminated. By leaning into the Sharaa–Abdi accord, Ankara hopes to transform what was once an intractable rivalry into a strategic convergence—one that neutralizes Kurdish separatism while bolstering Syria’s new post-Assad political order.
As the geopolitical landscape shifts, this visit marks a significant thaw in relations and may signal the beginning of a coordinated security framework between Turkey and the transitional Syrian government—one shaped not by past animosities, but by the mutual imperatives of stability, control, and regional reintegration.
