The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) will stay in Syria for now, training and advising the new Syrian defence forces, Defense Minister Yaşar Güler said on Wednesday.
"We have started providing military training and consultancy services while taking steps to increase Syria's defense capacity," Güler told Reuters, without elaborating on those steps.
Güler said it was too early to discuss the possible withdrawal or relocation of the more than 20,000 Turkish troops in Syria.
This can "only be re-evaluated when Syria achieves peace and stability, when the threat of terrorism in the region is fully removed, when our border security is fully ensured and when the honorable return of people who had to flee is done," he said.
One of Türkiye's main priorities in Syria, following the fall of Bashar Assad in December and the coming to power of a new Syrian government, is the elimination of the PKK's Syrian wing, the YPG, through its integration into the new national army.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said last week that the SDF was using "stalling tactics,” despite a deal with the Syrian government to integrate into Syria's armed forces. The YPG uses the name SDF to give itself an air of legitimacy.
The deal was signed in March by Syria’s interim president and Ferhat Abdi Şahin, code-named "Mazloum Kobani," the ringleader of the YPG. Damascus shunned an open conflict with the YPG and sought a deal for their integration into the new Syrian army.
The YPG currently occupies one-third of Syria's territory, including most of the country's oil and gas fields. Türkiye, which suffered from cross-border attacks by the YPG, supported the Syrian opposition through military offensives in Syria’s north in the past decade and liberated parts of northern Syria from the YPG's grip.
Türkiye has urged Syria’s interim administration to address the YPG’s control over large parts of northern Syria and is currently closely monitoring the integration of the SDF into the Syrian armed forces. Ankara is a major supporter of the al-Sharaa-led administration and also backs the March deal.
Güler also spoke on the Israeli attacks on Syria, for which Ankara has called for dialogue and restraint.
Güler said Türkiye and Israel – which carried out its latest airstrikes on southern Syria late on Tuesday – are continuing de-confliction talks to avoid military accidents in the country.
Ankara’s overall priority in Syria is preserving its territorial integrity and unity, and ridding it of terrorism, he said, adding Ankara was supporting Damascus in these efforts.
NATO member Türkiye has accused Israel of undermining Syrian peace and rebuilding with its military operations there in recent months and, since late 2023, has also fiercely criticized Israel's assault on Gaza.
But the two regional powers have been quietly working to establish a de-confliction mechanism in Syria.
Güler described the talks as "technical-level meetings to establish a de-confliction mechanism to prevent unwanted events" or direct conflict, and as "a communication and coordination structure."
"Our efforts to form this line and make it fully operational continue. Yet it should not be forgotten that the de-confliction mechanism is not a normalization," he said.
