President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan underscored the need for lasting peace in Syria on Monday, saying the peoples of the war-torn country “deserve to live in peace” and expressing hope for a future where stability and well-being prevail across the nation.
Speaking after a Cabinet meeting in Ankara, Erdoğan said Türkiye sincerely wishes for its neighbor, Syria, to restore internal peace as soon as possible.
“We stand for peace, stability, and inter-communal reconciliation throughout our region,” he said. “If there is fire, conflict or war beyond our borders, we know very well that it is impossible for us to feel secure here.”
Erdoğan said Türkiye views any step that contributes to peace and stability in Syria, and protects the country’s territorial integrity and political unity, as “reasonable and welcome.”
He warned that “those who rely on terrorism or resort to terrorist methods, today or in the future, must know they will achieve nothing, no matter the cause.”
The president added that recent agreements have opened “a new page” for the Syrian people and cautioned that anyone who attempts to undermine this process “will be crushed under its weight.”
Erdoğan also said Türkiye will continue to stand firmly against “all war profiteers who fuel conflicts, invest in escalation and disregard human life.”
The swift collapse of the YPG, just months after the PKK terrorist group agreed to lay down its arms in Türkiye, marks a major shift in northern Syria and aligns with Ankara’s regional aims. Within two weeks, the YPG – previously backed by the United States against Daesh – lost most of its territory to an anti-regime offensive led by Ahmad al-Sharaa and was ultimately forced to accept a deal to dissolve and have its fighters integrated individually into the Syrian military. The SDF, created a decade ago with U.S. support, had been dominated by the YPG terrorists.
