Turkey’s top diplomat, defence minister, and intelligence chief made a surprise visit to Damascus, just days after Syria’s interim government struck a deal to integrate a US-backed Kurdish-led armed group into the Syrian military.
The agreement to incorporate the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into the Syrian army followed intense clashes last week between government forces and gunmen loyal to ousted President Bashar al-Assad.
Monitoring groups reported that the violence, which mainly targeted members of the Alawite religious minority to which Assad belongs, resulted in hundreds of civilian deaths.
Ahmad Al-Sharaa, the interim president of Syria and a former rebel, met with Turkish officials in the Syrian capital, including Hakan Fidan, Turkey’s foreign minister, Yasar Guler, defence minister, and Ibrahim Kalin, the head of national intelligence.
They were accompanied by Turkey’s ambassador to Syria, Burhan Koroglu.
According to Turkey’s state-run news agency DHA, an official from the Turkish Defence Ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the visit aimed to assess “how the agreement reached will be implemented and its reflections on the field.”
The official also added that Turkey’s expectations for Syria had not changed, reiterating its demand for the termination of terrorist activities in Syria, the disarmament of terrorists, and the expulsion of foreign fighters from the country.
Turkey considers the SDF and its military wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), to be terrorist organisations because of their links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged an insurgency against Turkey for decades.
Meanwhile, while the Turkish delegation flew unannounced to Damascus, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presented an award for “benevolence and kindness” to a former Syrian fighter pilot, Ragheed Al-Tatari, who had been imprisoned for 43 years.
The award ceremony, hosted by a foundation connected to Turkey’s religious authority, honoured Al-Tatari for his perseverance.
Al-Tatari had been detained under the rule of both Hafez Assad and Bashar Assad since 1981, with conflicting reports about his imprisonment. He was allegedly jailed for refusing to bomb the city of Hama and for not reporting an attempt by a fellow pilot to desert. Al-Tatari, whose imprisonment is regarded by human rights groups as one of Syria’s longest for a political prisoner, was released in December when opposition forces freed him.
In his speech, Erdogan praised Al-Tatari as “the brave Syrian pilot who listened to his conscience.”
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