ISTANBUL — On Thursday, key Turkish officials, including the foreign minister, defense minister, and intelligence chief, paid an unexpected visit to Damascus. This visit occurred shortly after the temporary Syrian government reached an accord to integrate the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a U.S.-backed Kurdish-led group, into the national army.
The agreement was initiated following intense confrontations last week, which involved government security forces and armed groups aligned with the deposed leader, Bashar Assad.
Reports from monitoring groups indicated that the violence led to the death of numerous civilians in Syria’s coastal regions, significantly impacting the Alawite religious community, which is closely associated with Assad.
Ahmad al-Sharaa, acting as Syria’s interim president and formerly a rebel leader, had discussions with Turkish dignitaries including Hakan Fidan, the foreign minister; Yasar Guler, the defense minister; and Ibrahim Kalin, the intelligence chief. The group was accompanied by Burhan Koroglu, Turkey’s ambassador to Syria.
According to the local news agency DHA, an anonymous official from the Turkish Ministry of Defense stated earlier on Thursday that Turkey intends to evaluate “how the agreement reached will be implemented and its implications on the ground.”
The official further emphasized that Turkey’s objectives in Syria remain unchanged.
“Our expectations for ending terrorist activities in Syria, disarming terrorists, and removing foreign terrorists from Syrian soil remain the same,” the official stated.
Turkey considers the SDF and its armed wing, the People’s Protection Units, as terrorist organizations, citing their association with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party.
As Turkish leaders made their unannounced visit to Damascus, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan awarded a former Syrian fighter pilot, who had been imprisoned for 43 years, acknowledging his “beneficence and kindness.”
The ceremony, organized by a foundation related to Turkey’s religious affairs, honored Ragheed al-Tatari. Erdogan applauded al-Tatari’s resilience, awarding him for his “benevolence.”
Al-Tatari’s long incarceration stretches back to the regimes of Syrian Presidents Hafez al-Assad and later Bashar al-Assad, commencing from 1981. There are varied narratives surrounding his imprisonment, including refusal to bomb Hama and not reporting a pilot’s attempted desertion.
Throughout these four decades, al-Tatari endured rotations among various prisons notorious for holding political captives, including Palmyra and Sednaya. His release in December was facilitated by opposition forces, with his sentence considered by human rights groups as one of the most prolonged for a political prisoner in Syria.
During the event, Erdogan praised al-Tatari, describing him as “the valiant Syrian pilot who chose to follow his conscience.”
