ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday commended the integration of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into the state, calling it a “valuable” milestone, while stressing that Syria’s other armed groups must follow suit. 

“We have received good news during the integration process recently. We find the declaration made by the SDF to dissolve itself and integrate into Syrian state institutions valuable,” Fidan said during a joint presser with his Syrian counterpart Asaad al-Shaibani.

“The integration process aims for our Kurdish citizens to feel safer, freer, and more prosperous than before. This is also Turkey’s perspective. Our President shows great sensitivity, especially regarding the well-being, stability, and security of our Kurdish brothers and sisters in Syria and Iraq,” he added.

Rojava and Damascus signed an agreement on January 29 to bring the Kurdish-led autonomous administration in northeast Syria and Kurdish-led forces therein under the auspices of the Syrian state.

The deal came after violent clashes in Aleppo's Kurdish-majority quarters which escalated into a broader offensive by Syrian forces under the leadership of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa into Rojava.

“The integration of all armed elements in the country under a central state structure is essential for strengthening Syria's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and social unity. Not only the SDF, but all armed groups remaining from the civil war are being unified one by one under a national army,” Fidan said.

The current government under Sharaa rose to power after ousting former leader Bashar al-Assad in a Turkish-backed offensive in December 2024. Ankara has since maintained intimate ties with the new administration in Damascus.

According to Fidan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to visit Syria “in the near future.”

The SDF was established in 2015 as a pluralistic, diverse force that had its backbone forged from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). It contained elements from all segments of Rojava’s society, including Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, and Armenians.

Following January’s violence, Sharaa issued a decree offering concessions designed to foster goodwill with Syria's Kurdish population, including recognizing Newroz as a national holiday, recognizing Kurdish as a national language that may be taught in public and private schools in Kurdish-populated areas, and abolishing the effects of the controversial 1962 census in Hasaka province, thus granting Syrian nationality to previously stateless Kurds.

The decree, however, has not been enshrined in Syria's new transitional constitution, and the elective nature of the Kurdish language offering for students who have spent their whole lives being educated in the language has attracted criticism.