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Syria FM leads security delegation for talks in Turkey

Syria foreign minister leads security delegation for talks in Turkey
MENA
2 min read
12 October, 2025
The visit comes a week after violent clashes between the army and Kurdish forces in north-eastern Syria.
Turkey has pledged to provide military support and training to the new Syrian government. [Getty]

Senior Syrian officials arrived in Turkey on Sunday for discussions about the security situation in Syria.

Syrian foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani, defence minister Ashraf Abu Qasra, and intelligence chief Hussein al-Salama were among the high-level delegation in Ankara.

Turkey's foreign ministry said Saturday that they would meet with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defence Minister Yasar Guler and head of intelligence Ibrahim Kalin.

This comes several days after violent clashes between government troops and Kurdish forces in Aleppo province.

The two sides on Tuesday reached an agreement to de-escalate tensions, a day after US Syria envoy Tom Barrack and a senior US general held talks with senior figures in the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

Fidan spoke of the need to further strengthen ties between the two countries "at all levels".

"We do not see Syria's security as separate from Turkey's security. We will continue to provide all forms of support to our Syrian brothers," he wrote on X.

On Saturday, Abu Qasra met with Turkish officials in Damascus to discuss support for the country's defence industries.

Syria and Turkey signed an agreement in August that would see Ankara provide military support and training to the Syrian army.

Turkey and the US have for months been trying to broker an agreement between Syria's new government and the country's autonomous north-east that would see Kurdish authorities reintegrate with the country.

The Kurds have demanded that the government introduce a federal system that would allow them to retain their autonomy from Damascus, which the government has rejected.

"The Syrian Democratic Forces must keep their word. They must complete their integration with Syria," Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said on Wednesday.

Kurdish authorities have been reticent to hand over control of their region to the country's new Islamist-led authorities out of concern for how they will treat minority communities.

Fears were compounded this year after brutal sectarian violence perpetrated by pro-government forces in the Druze-majority Suweida province and the Alawite heartlands near the coast.