Syrian Kurds worried about Turkish-Syrian reconciliation

"Turkey normalising with the Syrian regime will never bring peace."
President of the Executive Committee of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), Ilham Ahmed (Photo: Kurdistan 24)
President of the Executive Committee of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), Ilham Ahmed (Photo: Kurdistan 24)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The president of the Executive Committee of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), Ilham Ahmed in a tweet on Monday said Turkish reconciliation with Damascus would ‘never bring peace’, but deepen the crisis. 

“Turkey has never supported the Syrian revolution, but used it to serve its expansionist agendas based on colonialism, demographic changes and using Syrian refugees,” she said in a tweet.

She said the Syrian opposition should unify and play its role.

Iran’s semi-official state media recently reported that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan might meet Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit (SCO) on September 15-16 in Uzbekistan

However, the news was not confirmed by the Turkish media or Turkish officials.

Dogu Perincek, head of the small Turkish nationalist Patriotic Party (Vatan Party), will also reportedly visit Syria in the upcoming weeks and will meet President Assad.

Several senior Turkish officials have recently changed their tone on relations with the Syrian government.

On his return flight from his visit to Ukraine, President Erdogan told reporters on Friday that Turkey does not seek the overthrow of Syrian president Assad.

Moreover, he said Turkey needs to “secure additional steps with Syria at higher levels.”

“I hope that by taking these steps, we will spoil many games in the entire region, namely in this region of the Islamic world with our neighbours."

Moreover, he said that in the upcoming period that the “constitution in Syria will be made as soon as possible” and that all ‘people’s concerns’ will be resolved.

Also earlier this month, Turkish FM Mevlut Cavusoglu said there is a need for the Syrian opposition and the Syrian government to be reconciled. He also confirmed he met his Syrian counterpart in October in Serbia.

In response, there were several protests in Syrian-opposition held areas in Syria.

Supporters of the Syrian opposition also worry about possible reconciliation between Damascus and Ankara.

Russia has also pushed Turkey to restore relations with Damascus and return to the Adana Agreement signed by Damascus and Turkey of 1998, which allows Turkey to enter five kilometers deep into Syrian territory if it deems that Turkish security is threatened.

The deal came after years of water disputes between the two countries, and Damascus’ hosting of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan.

The PKK leader was expelled on Oct. 9 of that year, before his capture one year later in Kenya. Since then, Ocalan has been imprisoned in Turkey.

Damascus said in 2019 it is ready to work with Turkey if the Turkish army withdraws from Syria.

Read More: Damascus ready to cooperate with Ankara if it withdraws from Syria

Nicholas Heras, a Senior Analyst and Program Head for State Resilience and Fragility at the Newlines Institute in Washington, D.C., told Kurdistan 24 that "the Russians have been trying to reimagine how to use the Adana Agreement to satisfy Turkey's security concerns while reducing the amount of Syrian territory under Turkish control and with a quicker timeline for Turkey's withdrawal from Syria."

"Russia's war in Ukraine has accelerated the situation in Moscow's favor because Erdogan wants a security win and the ability to start relocating Syrian refugees from Turkey back into Syria to offset for Turkey's economic struggles that threaten Erdogan's reelection."

He added that "Moscow is starting to gain momentum with Ankara and is dragging the Assad government closer to accepting a deal with Turkey."

Aaron Stein, an expert for War on the Rocks, told Kurdistan 24 that he "don’t see a quick pathway to reconciliation" between Damascus and Ankara.

"Ankara owns much of northern Syria. It is one thing to ruminate about a rapprochement, it is another to decide to do it, and then manage a process that will have negative effects on people you have signed up to protect and care for," he concluded.