In remarks published on Tuesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told fellow members of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) at a meeting on Monday that they would not allow "brotherhood" of Arabs, Turks and Kurds to be disrupted. He was commenting on the terror-free Türkiye initiative and the Syrian army's victory over the U.S.-backed terrorist group YPG in Aleppo.

Türkiye proceeds with caution in the terror-free Türkiye initiative launched by Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). The initiative aims to end decades of a campaign of violence by the terrorist group PKK. The YPG is the Syrian wing of the PKK. The PKK's attacks under the pretext of a struggle to establish a self-styled Kurdish state, cost thousands of lives since the 1980s. The YPG pursues a similar agenda in Syria and declared parts of northeastern Syria as an autonomous region. The group aims "decentralization" of Syria to carve out a Kurdish entity. The Syrian army last week scored a major victory against the YPG in Aleppo last week, while the group tried to portray it as an attack on the "Kurdish community" of Syria.

Since it launched the terror-free initiative to disarm the PKK, Türkiye highlighted the need to maintain unity between Kurds and Turks, to establish a "home front" against regional threats, particularly Israel's expansionism. Eliminating ethnic fault lines in the region is crucial for a terror-free region as well, according to proponents of the initiative.

YPG, however, rejected joining the PKK's disarmament efforts, which began last year. Türkiye, in turn, called the group to implement a deal it signed with Damascus in March 2025 that stipulates integration of "Syrian" elements of YPG to integrate with the Syrian army. The terrorist group, nevertheless, proceeded with shelling Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods of Aleppo, prompting the Syrian army to launch a major offensive last week. The army succeeded in driving out the YPG from the neighborhoods, which are also home to a Kurdish population.

Erdoğan termed the YPG's actions as a plot to harm the unity of Kurds, Turks and Arabs. The president told the AK Party meeting that all measures were in place for the security of Türkiye in the face of developments in Syria. Sources said on Tuesday that Erdoğan highlighted that the YPG's expulsion from Aleppo was a major gain for permanent peace and stability in Syria. He praised the Syrian government's approach to the issue by reaching out to all different segments of the Syrian society and against the maximalist and irrational demands of the YPG, and underlined that the prevalence of this approach would be for the benefit of the people of Syria. He said Türkiye should be careful in its approach to developments in Syria in a way not to harm the unity and not to fall for "provocations." The president also described the implementation of the March 2025 deal as a historic opportunity and expressed Türkiye's support for Syria.

Commenting on the Aleppo clashes, Bahçeli told a parliamentary group meeting of his party in Ankara on Tuesday that the YPG "committed multiple mistakes." "Trump betrayed them," he said, underlining that Washington did not come to the rescue of the terrorist group it cooperated with under the pretext of fighting against Daesh. "The PKK dissolved itself and laid down weapons. The YPG should end that way," he said. Bahçeli emphasized that a February 2025 call by the PKK's jailed ringleader, Abdullah Öcalan, for the dissolution of the PKK also included the YPG.

"Mazloum Abdi is pro-Zionist, a puppet of Israel and disrespects Öcalan," Bahçeli said, using the alias of the YPG leader Ferhat Abdi Şahin. Israel was the first to react to the Aleppo clashes and openly sided with the YPG. The Netanyahu administration has implied support for the terrorist group last year, as well as after the fall of the Assad regime. Since the new administration came to power in Syria, Israel stepped up its attacks on that country, making repeated incursions beyond parts of the Golan Heights it illegally seized.

Bahçeli also lamented that the pro-PKK Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), a key actor in the terror-free Türkiye initiative, claimed Kurds were attacked in Aleppo. "No one will believe when they say Kurdish blood is shed there. Shedding Kurdish blood is equal to shedding Turkish blood," the nationalist politician said. "The YPG made civilians human shields and hid behind innocent people," he added. "Thankfully, the Syrian army acted with patience and caution and evacuated everyone without any harm," he said.

The MHP leader also questioned why the rhetoric shifted while people were making sacrifices for a terror-free Türkiye, adding that exploiting the Aleppo issue would be of no benefit to anyone. "Turks and Kurds are brothers and are bound by fate," he underlined.

He also criticized the DEM Party’s call for the YPG to be "invited to Ankara and engaged in negotiations,” describing it as either a hastily made statement or "a lapse of reason that fails to grasp the issue and ignores realities.”

"How would negotiations be conducted with a terrorist group under Israel’s control?” Bahçeli said. "How could Türkiye consent to such humiliation?”

He stressed the restoration of calm in Aleppo was a welcome development, adding that Syria’s political unity and territorial integrity must be preserved.

He said the YPG’s legitimate interlocutor is the Syrian state and that, although the March 10 agreement has expired, the integration process must be completed through mutual compromise, constructive dialogue and negotiations.

PKK’s hand in clashes

A report by the Sabah newspaper on Tuesday says a senior member of the PKK may have played a role in the escalation of the conflict in Aleppo last week. The report says the YPG’s senior figures, including leader Şahin and Ilham Ahmed, were warm to the implementation of the deal as they indicated at a meeting with Damascus on Jan. 4, but YPG members loyal to Fehman Hüseyin, also known as Bahoz Erdal, considered escalating tensions. When the YPG members were cornered in Aleppo, those siding with Hüseyin ordered the terrorists to "stay and fight.”

The report says some senior PKK members hoped that the YPG may garner support from the West as it did in the past, by portraying the Syrian army as "extremists in league with Daesh.” According to the report, the majority of terrorists who exchanged fire with the Syrian army despite Damascus’ call for evacuation were those close to Erdal who settled in the region after traveling from Afrin, a YPG bastion in the north.