Security sources speaking to Turkish media outlets said the Turkish army would leave Syria on three conditions: complete restoration of state’s authority in Syria, ensuring security of Türkiye’s borders and complete elimination of threat of terrorism.
A report by the Türkiye newspaper based on statements of security sources said Türkiye’s conditions to withdraw its troops from its southern neighbor were "clear and unchanged.”
Last Thursday, sources from the Ministry of National Defense rejected the claims that Turkish troops started their withdrawal from "Operation Peace Spring areas,” referring to Syrian towns liberated from the U.S.-backed terrorist group YPG in 2019. The ministry’s sources said the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) continued to coordinate its activities with the Syrian government and the reports of withdrawal stemmed from a campaign of disinformation targeting Türkiye. Pro-YPG news outlets have claimed that the withdrawal began in the last week of January, after the YPG and Damascus reached a deal for integration of the former to post-Assad Syrian army.
Security sources on Saturday said Turkish police and gendarmerie gradually handed over security in Afrin, an area liberated from the YPG, to Syrian authorities and security personnel temporarily posted there returned to Türkiye. Sources, however, said Turkish soldiers would remain stationed in the region, in their bases.
Sources said Türkiye’s presence in Syria was temporary and conditional and the TSK’s mission would be "accomplished” if the incumbent administration in that country maintains stability in post-civil war Syria fully. Sources added that Türkiye, nevertheless, was always open to support Syrian government if Damascus asks for assistance.
The civil war in Syria turned into a major challenge for its northern neighbor Türkiye, but Ankara believes it overcame it with dignity, especially by hosting a large refugee population fleeing atrocities, for more than a decade. Lawlessness the war created also gave birth to another risk for Türkiye: the rise of the YPG, the Syrian wing of the PKK, which has killed tens of thousands of people in Türkiye since the 1980s.
The YPG’s attacks on Turkish border towns and infiltration of YPG members into the country for the purpose of terror attacks prompted Ankara to launch a cross-border offensive in Syria’s north. Operation Peace Spring pushed back the YPG’s attacks on opposition-held towns near Turkish border.
In the post-Assad era, the YPG discovered the existence of its so-called autonomy was in danger and consented to a deal with the al-Sharaa administration in Damascus. The deal, signed in March 2025, involved integration of the YPG with the new Syrian army. Yet, the terrorist group, apparently encouraged by its foreign allies, refused to fully comply with the deal, forcing Damascus to move on to retake towns captured by the YPG during the civil war. A lightning offensive by the Syrian army forced the YPG to rethink the deal and sign a new agreement with Damascus for integration and handover of towns it occupied for years.
Türkiye, which sought to disarm the PKK through an initiative which began in 2024, supports the idea of the YPG’s integration into the Syrian army, to prevent a new conflict in its southern neighbor struggling to rebuild itself after years of devastating unrest.