Turkish foreign minister meets with de facto Syrian leader in Damascus

The new leader of Syria has announced that all weapons will be surrendered to “state control” during a press conference.

The new leader of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, announced that all weapons, including those held by armed Kurdish factions, will be surrendered to “state control,” during a press conference with a Turkish official on Sunday.

Mr al-Sharaa swapped his army greens for a suit and tie as he hosted Turkey’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan for a meeting in Damascus. It is part of the Syrian leader’s larger diplomatic push to propel Syria’s restablisation in the region.

“We will absolutely not allow there to be weapons in the country outside state control, whether from the revolutionary factions or the factions present in the SDF area”, Mr al-Sharaa added, referring to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

The Kurdish-led SDF played a significant role in supporting Mr al-Sharaa and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)’s seizure of power from former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

The SDF are also key allies in the U. S.led coalition against ISIS (ISIL) in 2014-17 and still guard Islamic State fighters in Syrian prison camps.

Turkey has maintained a strong relationship with the new Syrian administration. Picture: AFP/Turkish Foreign Ministry Press Service

However, the Kurdish-led coalition is headed by the People’s Protection Units (YPG) which Ankara claims harbours connections to the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

In an interview with Al Jazeera English, Mr Fidan claimed that Western allies were “turning a blind eye to the fact that the YPG is an extension of PKK.”

PKK have fought a bloody insurgency for over four decades against the Turkish state and are designated as a “foreign terrorist organisation” by several countries, including the United States, Australia and the European Union.

While YPG has consistently denied any direct organisational links, SDF leader Mazloum Abdi acknowledged the presence of PKK fighters in the fight against the Islamic State for the first time in a Thursday interview with Reuters.

He maintained that they would return home if Turkey agreed to a ceasefire in northeastern Syria, where hostilities have resumed after the fall of al-Assad.

On Thursday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan compared the SDF forces to Daesh, also known as ISIS (ISIL).

YPG fighters, who form part of the SDF in Al Hasakah, Syria. Picture: Elke Scholiers/Getty Images

“In the upcoming period, we do not believe that any power will continue to collaborate with terrorist organisations. The heads of terrorist organisations such as Daesh and PKK-YPG will be crushed in the shortest possible time,” he said, Al Jazeera reports.

During the Damascus conference, Mr Fidan also called for the international community to “help Syria get back on its feet,” during a press conference with Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus.

Mr al-Sharaa swapped his army greens for a suit and tie as he hosted the minister on December 2022 for a meeting that is part of the Syrian leader’s larger diplomatic push to propel Syria’s restablisation in the region.

Mr Fidan said he supported lifting sanctions on Syria “as soon as possible” and called for the “displaced people to return.”

Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war killed more than half a million people and displaced more than half its population, with many of them fleeing to neighbouring countries, including three million in Turkey.

With additional reporting from AFP.