Ankara, Damascus launch works for training new Syrian army

ANKARA

Military officials from Türkiye and Syria have started to coordinate works for the training of the latter’s army in the frame of a bilateral military agreement signed by the two sides last week.

A memorandum of understanding on the training of the Syrian army was signed by Defense Minister Yaşar Güler and Syrian Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra on Aug. 13 in Ankara.

Turkish Defense Ministry sources said the two sides have already started to implement the deal.

“This agreement aims to increase Syria’s defense capacity and realize concrete military cooperation. Within the frame of this agreement, the process of the restructuring of the Syrian Armed Forces has accelerated and training, consultancy, technical support and exchange of study visits have begun,” sources from the ministry told reporters in Ankara on Aug. 21.

They informed that a senior military delegation from the Syrian Defense Ministry visited Türkiye’s National Defense University.

According to the sources, the Defense Ministry will deploy more technical teams to Syria in the coming period to observe the needs of the Syrian army and create a joint road map for increasing the defense capacity of the country.

“Türkiye sees preserving Syria’s stability as crucially important for the regional peace and supports ‘One State, One Army’ principle,” the sources said, adding the two countries envisage to expand the scope of the military cooperation in the coming period.

In line with the agreement, Türkiye will train Syrian security forces and provide consultancy for the restructuring of the new Syrian army.

  Peace force to Ukraine

The sources also responded to the questions on whether Türkiye will deploy troops to Ukraine once Russia and Ukraine agree on a permanent peace deal.

“Türkiye is a country that produces peace and stability in its region and contributes to all sorts of initiatives,” they said, but underlined that there is nothing clear about the scope, mandate and composition of a mission to be potentially deployed to Ukraine.

“Making assessments over ungrounded estimations will not be healthy and accurate,” they stated.

Türkiye is named among potential countries that can send troops to Ukraine as part of the security guarantees.