By Bosphorus News Geopolitics Desk
Türkiye welcomed the Syrian Democratic Forces' (SDF) declaration ending its role as an independent military force but said on September 13 that the decision still had to be implemented on the ground, as Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would visit Damascus soon.
Fidan spoke in Damascus alongside Syrian Foreign and Expatriates Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani during an official visit that Türkiye's Foreign Ministry said would run from September 13 to 14.
Using Türkiye's YPG/SDF terminology, Fidan said Ankara considered the declaration on dissolution and integration into Syrian state institutions a valuable response to the Syrian government's efforts.
"This step needs to be put into practice without delay and implemented on the ground," Fidan said, according to TRT Haber.
Syrian state media had described the August 25 process as complete.
SDF commander Mazloum Abdi said that day that the force's mission had ended and that it was dissolving as an independent military force after completing its integration into Syrian Army brigades. The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported the process as complete.
Two days later, SANA published a chronology describing August 25 as the final milestone of a process lasting 17 months and 15 days. It said military, security, administrative and civilian responsibilities had gradually been transferred to Syrian state institutions, with SDF personnel entering military and security structures and parallel institutions brought under central authority.
Türkiye had already attached a verification test to the announcement. On August 26, Fidan said Ankara's task was to check its practical effect on the ground and that the Damascus declaration would be welcome if events matched what had been announced.
His September 13 remarks show that Ankara still considers that test open nineteen days after the dissolution declaration.
Türkiye has not published a separate set of criteria defining full implementation. Fidan did not identify further requirements involving weapons, command structures, deployments or local security arrangements, so none can yet be described as formal Turkish conditions.
Fidan also said Erdoğan would visit Damascus soon. SANA carried the announcement after the joint press conference, while TRT Haber reported Fidan as saying that a presidential visit to Syria was being planned for the near future.
Fidan and al-Shaibani discussed activating the Joint High Committee as an institutional framework for closer coordination between the two governments, according to SANA.
Türkiye's Foreign Ministry confirmed Fidan's September 13-14 visit but published no detailed agenda. TRT Haber and Anadolu Agency reported before the meetings that SDF integration and security would be among the priority issues, alongside trade, energy, transport and regional connectivity.
At the press conference, Fidan said Turkish businesses and industrialists were showing strong interest in Syria and that the two governments were working to prepare the ground for deeper economic ties.
Fidan also accused Israel of seeking continued instability in Syria and said Israeli attacks were damaging the fight against terrorist organizations. He said Türkiye wanted Syria to consolidate its sovereignty and become a source of stability for neighboring countries.
On August 25, Damascus presented the SDF's military integration and dissolution as the end of a 17-month process. Nineteen days later, Türkiye's foreign minister was still asking for the decision to be carried out on the ground.
Sources: Türkiye's Foreign Ministry, Syrian Arab News Agency, TRT Haber, Bosphorus News review and reporting.