Three Serious Warnings From Turkey to the PKK via the SDF: At This Rate, The Situation Could Turn.

Doha; December 2025: As the new regime in Syria celebrated its 01st Anniversary today – December 08th, Turkey has sent two messages to both the Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê (PKK – also known as Kurdistan Workers’ Party) via the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the SDF’s patron, the United States, and three warning messages that indicate that the situation could turn at this rate.

1- Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s remarks at the Doha Forum, Fidan: SDG is side lining –

During his speech at the Forum, the Foreign Minister has asserted;

“The Syrian government and the SDF can make an agreement among themselves. However, when it comes to the PKK, we know that there are certain elements within the SDF, and we know that

 their sole goal is to wage a fight against Turkey. Therefore, we want the non-Syrian elements

to be removed from the SDF. We want the elements joining from Iraq, Iran, and Turkey

to leave immediately. This would be a good start”.

Shortly after this speech, Fidan has addressed the media houses stating;

“The signals coming from the SDF show that they have no intention of complying with the agreement; on the contrary, they are trying to circumvent it. There cannot be two armies in any country.

There can only be one army, a single command structure. However, they may reach

a different consensus or different understandings in local administrations”.

The Foreign Minister’s remarks are actually consistent with both Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit of the Democratic Party (DEM) and the controversial summary minutes presented to the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) following the meeting of a parliamentary delegation with PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan at İmralı Prison on November 24th.

In other words, the SDF’s armed forces should be integrated with the Syrian army, without command or regional privileges; this is what Öcalan calls a “Ministry of Defence”. However, the local administration, structured as a “federation without a federation name”, should assume the “police force” within its structure; this is what he calls a “Ministry of Interior”.

Fidan’s addition to this is the formula that has been circulating in Turkey for some time, since the SDF is Syrian and non-Syrians should be deported. It’s plausible that this has been discussed with the PKK for some time, but the fact that the PKK has begun moving its Iraqi headquarters to Syria contradicts this.

2- Chief of General Staff Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu’s contacts in Damascus, Syria –

The day before Fidan’s speech, Chief of General Staff General Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu and Deputy Chief of General Staff General Levent Ergün were in Syria. They met with President Ahmed Shara and inspected the Joint Operations Centre with the Syrian Minister of Defense and the Chief of General Staff. This visit could be considered Ankara’s second body language message.

Turkey conducted extensive military operations in Syria between 2016 and 2019. Then there was the Bashar al-Assad regime, and now there is the Sharia regime, which Turkey wants to see survive but strengthened without posing a threat to Turkey’s security.

Back then, there were Russian and Iranian influences. Now, they cease to be present, but there is the Israeli influence. The greatest threat to the Sharia regime comes from Israel, and Israel wants it to maintain its power, already under US protection, and pose a threat to both Damascus and Ankara.

These are seen as factors that make it difficult for Turkey to launch a new operation in Syria, even if the SDF (and therefore the PKK) disrupts the Terror-Free Turkey process. Meanwhile, the possibility that Syria could officially request assistance from Turkey is being ignored.

Fidan was aware of Bayraktaroğlu’s visit to Damascus when he spoke in Doha the next day.

At the same time there In Istanbul, Fidan spoke at the Doha Forum, İlham Ahmed, responsible for the SDF’s foreign relations, was addressing the International Peace and Democratic Society Conference organised by the Democratic Party (DEM) online.

“It was as if Ahmed was speaking from a world different from the one, we inhabit. We want and pray for the peace process in Turkey to be concluded. Those who still speak of war and conflict need to lower their voices. Turkey has a meeting with the Damascus government; they have a channel

with us. We want to be in dialogue with Turkey. Our borders should be opened. The Middle East

is being redesigned. If Turkey reaches peace with Syria, it will emerge from this situation

in a better position. In other words, according to the SDF representative, the

Terrorism-Free Turkey process has nothing to do with Syria. Ocalan’s words

of disarmament and dissolution on February 27th do not bind the SDF.

It is as if the issue is reconciliation between Turkey and Syria,

not the SDF. Turkey should speak to the SDF separately”.

3- The yellow light lit by Chief Advisor to the President Mehmet Uçum –

On December 07th, one day after the DEM Istanbul Conference, what could be considered a third warning came from the President’s Chief Legal Advisor, Mehmet Uçum:

“No one should be under the illusion that they will achieve impossible goals through law and democracy, which they have never achieved and will never achieve through terrorism.

Those responsible for completing the disarmament and termination processes during

the transition period should never give credence to saboteurs, whether from within or

from outside, or those who try to disrupt the Terror-Free Turkey process with impossible

demands and provocative and destructive language. It’s clear that intense efforts

must be made to prevent sabotage, eliminate those who perpetrate it, and

prevent further actions. It’s clear that these messages were delivered

directly to the PKK leadership, and that the DEM was also involved”.

Despite Turkey’s warnings not to disrupt the process, the SDF continues to press Turkey. While interacting with the media houses, SDF leader Mazlum Abdi (Ferhat Abdi Şahin) stated that the SDF and the Sharia government had agreed that the SDF would retain 03 divisions and 02 special battalions, despite the lack of any such statement from either Damascus or Ankara . Abdi claimed that the SDF had 100,000 armed forces, including 70,000 soldiers and 30,000 police officers (a figure Turkish sources consider exaggerated), and thus sought to become a partner in the Sharia government. Abdi also stated that US troops should remain in the country to ensure stability in Syria.

Turkey meanwhile sees that the process is being watered down by the US-led Central Command (CENTCOM), acting as a “warlord” under the SDF, and by Israeli influence. The process is being coordinated by MIT Director İbrahim Kalın.

Öcalan’s communications with the PKK (including meetings with the DEM Party delegation, lawyers, and family members) are under Turkish intelligence surveillance. Or should it be believed that Öcalan, imprisoned for 26 years, is attempting to circumvent MIT by addressing his organisation differently with his masterful double-entendres, a practice he is known for?

However, developments in Turkey, particularly after the November 24th meeting, such as the high-pitched objections rising from the PKK, Barzani’s “Cizre provocation”, and the SDF spokesperson’s messages about the Istanbul conference, signal that the atmosphere may be turning at this critical juncture.

In Turkey, discussions have begun that if the Terror-Free Turkey process fails after the coveted 2009 Oslo talks, furthermore the 2012-2015 dialogue process, there will be no fourth. It would be beneficial for everyone to take this seriously.

Team Maverick.