By Staff, Agencies

Turkey is dispatching a high-level delegation to Damascus on Monday as pressure mounts over the integration of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into Syria’s state institutions, with a year-end deadline approaching.

The delegation will include Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defense Minister Yasar Guler, and intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin, underscoring the strategic importance Ankara attaches to the talks.

A Turkish Foreign Ministry source told Reuters the discussions will focus on bilateral coordination and the implementation of the SDF integration agreement, which Turkey considers a core national security issue.

Ankara has repeatedly accused the US-backed SDF of deliberately delaying implementation and has warned that failure to comply could lead to military action.

Turkey views the SDF as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and insists that integration must involve dismantling the group’s independent military command.

Fidan said last week that Turkey still hopes to avoid military escalation but warned that Ankara’s “patience is running out.”

Turkish officials stress that integration cannot be merely symbolic and must result in the SDF fully dissolving as an autonomous armed force.

According to sources cited by Reuters, Damascus has proposed reorganizing around 50,000 SDF fighters into several divisions and smaller brigades under a reconstituted Syrian army, on the condition that the group cede territorial control and permit the deployment of other Syrian army units.