Turkish military team visits Damascus to boost ties

DAMASCUS

A high-level delegation from the Defense Ministry paid a snap visit to Damascus on Oct. 17 to hold talks with Syrian Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra to further boost defense and security cooperation between the two countries.

The Turkish ministry's defense and security director, İlkay Altındağ, along with a delegation held substantial talks with Abu Qasra in Damascus, the ministry said in written statement.

It said the Turkish and Syrian delegations discussed issues regarding security and defense.

The visit comes after the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding for Türkiye’s training of the Syrian army and providing military equipment to this end.

Since then, Türkiye and Syria exchanged high-level visits to strengthen ongoing defense and security cooperation.

On Oct. 12, a summit that took place in Ankara brought together Türkiye’s Defense Minister Yaşar Güler, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and intelligence chief İbrahim Kalın with their Syrian counterparts, Abu Qasra, Asaad al-Shibani and Hussein al-Salama.

The sides also discussed the implementation of a March 10 deal between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian government for the former’s integration to the national army.

In a recent meeting, SDF officials and Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa verbally agreed on how the integration will take place. Türkiye says "there is no place for terror groups" in Syria.