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

“We must take the lead in building new momentum to secure internal peace in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria and take pioneering steps against Israel, which continues its attacks with the overt support of the United States,” Erdogan stated, who is reportedly preparing for his first official visit to Damascus.

Contacts with the new regime

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

But in order to avoid negative comments about the Turkish president, the Bloomberg Agency’s Ankara bureau reported yesterday that the Turkish government is already considering removing Syria’s new leaders from the list of terrorist organization members soon.

Kurds always targeted

Despite US admonitions to Ankara not to harm Syria’s Kurds, the Turkish leadership appears to have already prepared its next steps. According to a Hurriyet newspaper columnist, the program for Syria has been finalised. On March 1, 2025, an interim government will be established, recognized by the people and a constituent assembly will be set up to draft and ratify a new constitution.

After March 1, the process of disarming the Kurdish YPG will also begin. The new Syrian leadership will call on all armed groups in Syria to surrender their weapons and a control mechanism will be set up during the disarmament process. Non-Syrians within the YPG will have to leave the country, as will the organisation’s leadership. YPG members who surrender their weapons will be allowed to join the Syrian army.

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