In an important speech at the D8 Summit of the group of Developed Islamic States (Egypt, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkey) in Cairo yesterday, the president of Turkey focused on the issue of Syria and indirectly revealed the plans of for the area. The establishment of a ceasefire in Lebanon and the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria will be, he said, the “beginning of a more positive period”.

“We must take the lead in developing new dynamics, to ensure internal peace in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, and to take pioneering steps against Israel, which continues its attacks with the open support of the United States,” Tayyip Erdoğan said. who seems to be preparing for his first official visit to Damascus.

Contacts with the al-Jolani regime

According to Turkish media and sources in Damascus, he will visit Damascus in 15 days and may pray at the Umayyad Grand Mosque. He will meet with the leader of HTS and with Syrian Turkmen. His visit will essentially be Ankara’s recognition of the new leadership led by a decorated jihadist terrorist, Mohammed al-Jolani, or more correctly, Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa.

But in order to avoid negative comments about the Turkish president, Bloomberg’s office in Ankara reported yesterday that the Turkish government is already considering the possibility of soon removing the new leaders of Syria from the list of members of terrorist organizations, without waiting for similar steps from other countries or the United Nations.

The Kurds are always in the crosshairs

Despite American exhortations to Ankara not to bother the Syrian Kurds, the Turkish leadership seems to have already prepared its next steps. According to a columnist for the Hurriyet newspaper, the program for Syria has been finalized. On March 1, 2025, a provisional government will be established, recognized by the people, and a constituent assembly will be established to draft and ratify the new Constitution.

After March 1, the disarmament process of the Kurdish PKK-YPG will also begin. The new Syrian leadership will call on all armed groups in Syria to lay down their weapons and a monitoring mechanism will be established during the disarmament process. Non-Syrians within the PKK-YPG should leave the country, as should the organization’s leadership. PKK-YPG members who surrender their weapons will be able to join the Syrian army.

YPG chief Mazloum Kobani wants his region to remain under US supervision, but according to Hurriyet, the new plan is to put the Kurdish region under the control of the new Syrian government and Turkey.