Turkey Is Not Happy With Kurdish Forces In Syria

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The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is not acting in line with an agreement it signed with Syria’s interim government last March to join the country’s state institutions, a Turkish Defense Ministry source said on August 7.

Turkey, the main ally of the Islamist-led government in Syria, views the SDF, which controls vast parts of northern and eastern Syria with direct support from the United States, as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and deems it a threat to its national security.

“It has not escaped our attention that the SDF terrorist organization’s voice has become louder, empowered by the clashes in Syria’s south,” the source told reporters at a briefing in Ankara, in a reference to the fighting between Druze and Bedouin forces last month.

“The SDF terrorist organization’s attacks in the outskirts of Manbij and Aleppo against the Syrian government in recent days damage Syria’s political unity and territorial integrity,” the source added.

There has been no progress whatsoever towards implementing the breakthrough agreement signed by the government and the SDF earlier this.

On August 3 and 4 two rounds of clashes broke out between in Aleppo in northern Syria, with both sides exchanging accusations

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan reaffirmed Ankara’s support to Syria’s stability and reconstruction following a meeting with Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Damascus later on August 7.

In a statement posted on X, Fidan pledged continued support for Syria’s fight against what he called “extremist groups,” and reiterated Turkey’s readiness to help manage camps in northern and eastern Syria that house people with alleged ties to ISIS. These camps are controlled by the SDF.

All in all, it is highly unlikely that the government and the SDF will manage to move forward with their agreement. Damascus seems keen to disarm the group, and taking into account the massacres against Alawites last March and later against Druze in July, the Kurds will certainly refuse to hand over their weapons.

The two sides are clearly heading towards a battle. Turkey is guaranteed to back the government in any such fight. However, a victory against the SDF, which has more than heavily-armed 100,000 fighters, is not guaranteed at all.

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