The Syrian army succeeded in curbing the U.S.-backed terrorist group YPG’s clout in the country and retook several towns after three days of clashes. On Sunday, Damascus announced a cease-fire and a “full integration” deal, sealing the fate of the terrorists for now. Developments are viewed as a key victory for the wider region, as Ankara, a major supporter of the new Syrian administration, highlighted.
“We know that the time given to the PKK and the deadline given to the YPG have now expired. Türkiye has also been waiting for nearly a year. That time is now over, and a step has been taken against the YPG. When we look at the declared cease-fire and the signed or announced 14-article agreement, we actually see that the YPG has lost,” assistant professor Mehmet Rakipoğlu of Mardin Artuklu University, told Daily Sabah on Monday.
Türkiye hopes the new agreement in Syria will advance efforts for stability based on territorial integrity and unity, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Sunday after the deal was announced. “We hope it is fully understood that Syria's future lies not in terrorism or division, but in unity and integration,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry noted that the new period that began in Syria on Dec. 8, 2024, seen as an exceptional opportunity for the country to achieve a prosperous future, has reached a critical stage as of today. It underlined the importance of recognizing realities on the ground and voiced hope that all groups and individuals in Syria now fully understand that the country's future lies not in terrorism and division but in unity, cohesion and integration.
Türkiye will continue to support the Syrian government's counterterrorism efforts carried out with an inclusive and unifying approach based on the consent of the people, as well as its work toward the reconstruction of the country, the statement added.
The YPG, the Syrian wing of the PKK, neither complied with Türkiye’s terror-free initiative for disarmament of the PKK, nor with a March 2025 deal for integration with the Syrian security forces.
Türkiye’s support to Syria, particularly the fight against terrorism, will continue, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told Syria’s President Ahmad al-Sharaa on Sunday.
Erdoğan and al-Sharaa discussed the latest developments in Syria in a phone call, the Turkish Communications Directorate said in a statement.
“Complete removal of terrorism from Syrian territory is necessary for both Syria and the entire region,” Erdoğan said.
Türkiye is a major supporter of post-Assad Syria and views the YPG as a threat to its own national security. Ankara has hinted that it may resort to a military option in Syria as it did in the past to thwart the YPG's ambitions, but repeatedly called for dialogue to resolve the dispute between the YPG and Damascus. When the YPG insisted on not following up on the deal to integrate into the Syrian army, Damascus launched a sweeping offensive last Friday to take back areas occupied by the YPG since the civil war. Over the weekend, the army, backed by tribes launching an uprising against the YPG, retained control in the west of the River Euphrates, from Raqqa and Deir ez-Zour to Deir Hafir.
Ankara has campaigned for the removal of terrorist groups from its southern border for a long time, accusing foreign powers of giving them room in Syria. After the declaration of the deal on Sunday, Turkish social media was awash with messages praising Erdoğan's remarks 11 years ago, where he told an audience in Istanbul that Türkiye would not allow a state by terrorist groups to be established in northern Syria, in reference to the YPG.
Apart from posing a national security threat, the YPG was also thwarting the recovery of Syria by holding oil-rich areas.
“The YPG was trying to legitimize its occupation of oil and natural gas fields through demographic engineering. It claimed that areas whose documents showed a predominantly Arab population were in fact Kurdish. We saw that this collapsed because tribal groups played a major role in this process. At the moment, only places like Hasakah remain, which already have a higher Kurdish population. In other words, the gains here belong not to YPG but to the Kurdish people themselves,” Rakipoğlu said. The YPG sought to portray clashes with the Syrian army as attacks on Kurds in Syria, as it claims to fight for maintaining so-called autonomy for the community in Syria. In response, Damascus has unveiled a set of reforms to improve the rights of Kurds in the country on Friday, seeking to shoot down the YPG’s arguments.
“The rights announced by Ahmad al-Sharaa in recent days, including citizenship for Kurds, are significant. The fact that he announced these alongside a military operation shows that Ahmad al-Sharaa favors peace. He wants an inclusive framework, one that does not open space for the YPG again. Rights have been granted. These are demanded rights, rights that should be granted anyway. Thus, these rights were given so that the YPG would no longer have any pretext. I believe the integration process will be in favor of Syria. That is, it will be against the PKK and against the YPG,” Rakipoğlu said. He pointed out that YPG lost everything prolonging its survival, especially border controls, oil and natural gas reserves. “We do not know to what extent the PKK will comply with this agreement, but assuming that it will, most likely, there is another key point: the collapse of American support for the PKK and YPG,” he said.
U.S. envoy Tom Barrack held talks with President al-Sharaa hours before the deal was announced and sources say the U.S. was instrumental in securing the deal, although Washington regards the YPG as a key partner. As a matter of fact, several YPG figures sought to rally the U.S. to stop “attacks” on the group in recent days and some even pleaded to Israel, another supporter of the YPG, for assistance.
“Many verified accounts and official pages are now sharing posts quoting Barrack, even using profanity. They did not get what they expected from the U.S. In this context, Ahmad al-Sharaa, during his one year in power, has acted pragmatically, not tactically but strategically, spreading the process over the long term. He addressed internal challenges not only by showing force domestically but also by integrating them with foreign policy. This included relations with the U.S., persuading Washington, and convincing Middle Eastern countries that the Syrian revolution would not spill beyond Syria’s borders. Agreements with the U.S., meetings in Paris via the U.S., talks with Israel, all of these clearly led to the end of American support for the PKK. Therefore, the PKK has no option other than integration. In fact, it has very little leverage left,” Rakipoğlu says.
According to the terms published by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), the agreement provides for an immediate and comprehensive cease-fire across all fronts and contact lines between government forces and YPG. The deal is to take effect in parallel with the withdrawal of all YPG-affiliated military formations to areas east of the Euphrates River as a preparatory step for redeployment.
Under the deal, the provinces of Deir el-Zour and Raqqa will be handed over fully and immediately to the Syrian government, both administratively and militarily. This includes the transfer of all civilian institutions and facilities in the two provinces. The agreement stipulates that current employees in Deir el-Zour and Raqqa will be formally retained within the relevant Syrian state ministries, and that the government will not take punitive measures against YPG personnel or members of the civil administration in the two provinces. It also stipulates the integration of all civilian institutions in Hasakah province into Syrian state institutions and administrative structures.
As part of the deal, the Syrian government will assume control of all border crossings and oil and gas fields in the region. These sites are to be secured by Syrian forces to ensure that revenues are returned to the state, according to SANA. Under the deal, all YPG military and security personnel will be integrated "individually" into the structures of Syria's defense and interior ministries following mandatory security vetting.
In a social media post on Monday, ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) spokesperson Ömer Çelik said the decree by al-Sharaa was significant to safeguard the rights of Syria’s Kurds. Çelik said YPG was “tasked with doing the evil deeds of certain powers and acted as a separate state and army within Syria.” “This ran counter to the realities on the ground in Syria, the principle of ‘one Syria, one army.’ Türkiye repeatedly highlighted that this was not possible. Having two states and two armies means a civil war that would harm everyone. Terrorist groups acting in this manner proved that they were merely an apparatus of evil forces. It does not benefit anyone, be they Kurds, Arabs or Turkmens, but it is clear who will benefit,” Çelik said, without elaborating. Türkiye views the PKK and its affiliates as proxies for “imperialist forces” seeking to destabilize the wider region. Israel’s outreach to YPG and U.S. support for the terrorist group under the pretext of a joint fight against Daesh has long irked Ankara. Çelik said YPG sought to derail terror-free Türkiye and terror-free region goals but failed. He said both were interlinked and YPG, by not complying with the March 2025 deal with Damascus, acted as a tool of an evil project targeting Syrian Kurds and the entire Syria.
The terror-free Türkiye initiative, launched by government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in 2024, aims at the disarmament of the PKK. The YPG refused to join the initiative, though the PKK started a dissolution process last year. “The YPG’s coup attempt targeting those goals is stopped,” he said.
Çelik stated that terrorist groups cannot represent any ethnic or religious group and their occupation of Syria cannot be defined as a “gain.” He said that the latest declaration by al-Sharaa was a clear sign of Syria’s internal integration and “a right step for our terror-free region goal.” “The true gain for our Syrian Kurdish brothers is the road map that began with the March 2025 deal, continued with the decree that safeguarded their rights and was framed with the latest (cease-fire and integration agreement).” “All steps taken to promote calmin Syria, to ensure unity and solidarity, and to eliminate terrorism are valuable. These efforts must be considered alongside the principle of taking an uncompromising stance in the fight against terrorism. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s policy of brotherhood toward neighboring countries and the peoples of the surrounding region continues with determination. We will continue to work so that the peoples of brotherly countries can have an honorable, peaceful, secure and prosperous future free from terrorism and imperialist domination. We continue to see that this strategy, built over years through patience, resolve and effort, produces the right outcomes for all, based on respect for the sovereignty of brotherly nations,” he concluded.
It remains to be seen how the YPG would respond to the deal, although the group is more weakened than ever. Rakipoğlu said their integration is a contentious issue.
“My assumption is that if an operation is carried out in places like Hasakah, then this agreement may be overtaken altogether, making integration unnecessary. I believe Syrian army forces will take control of border gates, city entrances and similar points. Locally, within cities, there may be some form of integration through policing, where YPG members lay down arms and join the army. However, I do not think figures like Ferhat Abdi Şahin and other senior YPG leaders will be integrated into the army. I believe they will leave for another country through safe zones or safe passage,” he said.
Rakipoğlu said the new agreement is more tangible than the March 2025 deal between Damascus and the YPG.
“There is no longer room for stalling or buying time for the YPG. We already knew that the March agreement would not be implemented without a military operation,” he said. He likened it to the terror-free Türkiye initiative. “The PKK (agreed to disarm) because there was no other option left for them. If the same stage is reached in Syria, then it could happen there too. But I do not yet think this operation has weakened the YPG in Syria to the same extent as in Türkiye. Therefore, they may demand revisions to the agreement and carry out localized attacks,” he warned.
“The PKK played the American card heavily. But both Türkiye’s efforts to bring relations with the U.S. onto a more stable footing, and Ahmad al-Sharaa strengthening his ties with Washington, have changed the equation,” Rakipoğlu added.
