Historic Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan, who has been in prison for 26 years, is calling on Turkey to facilitate an agreement between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF),whose spearhead is the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), and Damascus, in a message posted today by the Turkish pro-Kurdish DEM party.

Ocalan’s message is released one day before the deadline for implementing the agreement to integrate Kurdish forces into Syrian institutions.

“It is important for Turkey to play a mediating, constructive and dialogue-oriented role in this process. This is vital both for regional peace and for the strengthening of its own internal peace,” Abdullah Ocalan says in his message written and dated December 30.

“The basic condition expressed in the agreement signed on March 10 between the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Damascus government is a democratic model that allows the peoples to govern together. This approach also includes a basis for democratic integration which can be negotiated with the central authorities. The implementation of the March 10 agreement will facilitate and accelerate this process,” he writes.

The agreement signed in March between the Kurds and the central Syrian leadership provides for the integration of Kurdish institutions into the central authority and, most importantly, the integration of Kurdish military forces into the Syrian army.

The agreement was to be implemented by the end of the year, but negotiations have stalled.

Syrian Kurdish leader Maslum Abdi asserted Thursday that he is doing everything possible to prevent the deal from failing.

He reiterated the Syrian Forces of Syria’s demands for decentralization, which have been rejected by the central authority under Ahmed al-Sara, who overthrew Bashar al-Assad in 2024.

Turkish diplomatic chief Hakhan Fidan has called on the Kurds to implement the agreement and not become “an obstacle to the stability of the country.”

Ankara, which considers the presence of Kurdish fighters on the Turkish-Syrian border a threat and has conducted three military operations in Syria between 2016-2019, recently warned the Kurds that the partners in the deal are “losing patience.”