New Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose HTS group has long had ties with Turkey, told Al Arabiya TV on Sunday that the Kurdish-led forces should be integrated into the national army.
Fidan, who met with Sharaa in Damascus last month, said Ankara expected the new leadership to address the YPG issue.
Asked if they were taking the necessary steps: Fidan said: “We need to give it some time,” adding talks between Damascus and the YPG were going on.
He said Syria’s new rulers were capable of fighting the YPG, which he accused of buying time.
“The administration in Damascus is not made of those who are scared of war. They seized Damascus by fighting,” Fidan said.
Referring to Kurdish fighters in Syria, he said: “If you do not want any military operation in the region, neither by us nor by the new administration in Syria, the conditions for this are clear.”
“The terrorist fighters coming from international countries must leave Syria, the PKK leadership must leave the country. The remaining cadres must lay down their weapons and join the new system, this is for a bloodless and problem-free transition.”
Asked if Turkey would still intervene in Syria despite the United States’ support for the YPG, Fidan said: “We did it in the past in Afrin, in Ras al-Ayn and in Tal Abyad,” referring to locations in northern Syria that Turkey has targeted.
He said Turkey would not hesitate to do it again.
“This is what our national security requires. We don’t have any other option.”
More than 100 combatants have died over the past few days in northern Syria in fighting between Turkish-backed groups and Syrian Kurdish forces, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday.
Turkish-backed factions in northern Syria resumed their armed conflict with Kurdish forces at the same time Islamist-led rebels launched their November 27 offensive that ousted Assad just 11 days later.
© 2025 AFP
