Ankara reiterated concerns over the future of Syria in case of separatism threats as the National Security Council convened on Wednesday in the Turkish capital.

A statement by the council following the meeting chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said preventing attacks targeting Syria’s sovereignty remains a priority.

“It was emphasized that preventing attacks and occupations targeting Syria’s sovereignty, as well as all kinds of separatist, destructive and divisive activities, is of a high priority, especially as there are attempts to drag Syria back into a spiral of violence and chaos,” the national security body said in a statement.

The statement also said that developments in Syria were thoroughly addressed, reaffirming that support for the Syrian government’s efforts aimed at ensuring the country’s unity, territorial integrity and stability will continue.

Following the fall of the Baathist regime last December, Türkiye elevated its ties with the new administration and has been hopeful that the U.S.-backed terrorist group YPG active in country’s northeast would either dissolve or join Syria’s new army. The YPG, the Syrian wing of terrorist group PKK, which began disarmament earlier this month, retains self-styled “autonomy” in an area close to Syrian-Turkish border.

The YPG seems to be on the same page with the new administration in Damascus about a centralized government despite previous statements refusing to lay down weapons like the PKK.

“We defend the slogan ‘one army, one government, one state,’” the group’s ringleader, Ferhat Abdi Şahin, told Saudi Arabian news channels Al-Hadath and Al-Arabiya in an interview released Tuesday.

“We are all agreed on the unity of Syria,” Şahin claimed, echoing a concern shared by Türkiye, which has been on high alert against the security risks posed by the YPG. The YPG was openly supported by the U.S., which had designated the PKK as a terrorist group years ago. Washington justified the armament of the YPG as part of its anti-Daesh coalition.

The YPG took control of parts of northeastern Syria after the civil war broke out in Türkiye’s southern neighbor more than a decade ago. Türkiye launched a cross-border offensive during the civil war to limit the expansion of the YPG and succeeded in confining it to a narrower area.

The YPG, which is called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) by its main partner, the United States, managed to negotiate a deal with the new administration in Damascus. The deal, which involves the integration of the YPG into the new army of the country, is not final and the YPG’s high-ranking leaders, including Şahin, have repeatedly rejected “submission” to Damascus by disarming. Using the recent Druze unrest that erupted after Israel’s instigation in Suwayda as an excuse, the group also demanded “autonomy” under the guise of “decentralization.” With Israeli encouragement, they sought to build a bridge between the Druze and the YPG.

“The YPG is committed to the March 10 deal, but its implementation will take time. Integrating 100,000 fighters into the Syrian Defense Ministry is a major operation,” Şahin said in an apparent about-face.

He said Damascus has formally demanded the return of government facilities in Raqqa, Hassakah and Deir el-Zour, northern cities the YPG occupies. “In return, Damascus is prepared to approve our demands for Kurdish language and cultural rights,” Şahin said.

Şahin’s remarks follow Ankara’s warnings to “intervene” if the YPG refuses to comply with the integration agreement and follow the PKK’s example in dissolving itself.

“It’s time to integrate. Türkiye hopes no one attempts to divide Syria because we will intervene,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said last week.

Şahin’s remarks also come after the U.S. has admitted the group is an offshoot of the PKK and that Washington does “not owe the group an autonomous administration within an existing state.”

”The YPG aims to turn the ‘cease-fire’ in northeastern Syria into comprehensive peace,” he said, adding that the YPG was in “constant” contact with both Damascus and Türkiye.

Israel’s attacks

The National Security Council also discussed the political and military consequences of Israel’s attack on Iran, according to the statement, which stressed that new tensions and conflicts should be avoided in the Middle East, “a region already afflicted by serious fragilities.”

The statement reiterated its call for the global community to take responsibility and take action to immediately stop the Israeli administration, “which, by violating international law and targeting Iran after Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, continues its genocide and crimes against humanity in Gaza and seeks to drag the region into catastrophe.”

Expressing concern over signs of escalation in the Russia-Ukraine war, the statement reaffirmed Türkiye’s readiness to take responsibility and contribute in every possible way to the establishment of a lasting peace.

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Türkiye has joined the Hague Group’s joint Bogota Declaration on Palestine, noting that it was not bound by the references made in the joint statement to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The Hague Group’s joint statement on July 16 announced new measures to be taken to restrain Israel’s assault on the Occupied Palestinian Territories and defend international law at large.

In a note to the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on July 25, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Türkiye’s participation in the joint declaration does not imply any change in its current legal position regarding UNCLOS, as it placed reservations on the references to the convention in Articles 2 and 3 of the declaration.

Türkiye’s reservation pertains to the references to UNCLOS in Articles 2 and 3 of the statement, which invoke the convention in connection with preventing the transit of various items to Israel.

Rationale behind decision

In an interview with Turkish news channel NTV on July 25, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan responded to claims that Türkiye had not signed the joint statement adopted at the Hague Group meeting in Bogota, Colombia.

Fidan pointed out that the final signing date for the statement was Sept. 30, noting that the text included references to the UNCLOS and that Türkiye was not a party to it because the status issue in the Aegean Sea had not been resolved.

Due to the inclusion of a provision related to UNCLOS, Fidan stated that they had consulted with international legal experts, added the necessary reservation and saw no issue with recognizing the statement with the reservation.

Türkiye’s stance on UNCLOS

The UNCLOS, an international treaty dated Dec. 10, 1982, was prepared with the aim of being uniformly applied by all states in the oceans, but it does not take into account the sensitivities of semi-enclosed seas with unique geographical and historical conditions, such as the Aegean Sea.

The 1982 UNCLOS contains provisions that could transform the Aegean Sea into a “Greek lake.”

Türkiye consistently objects to the provisions of the convention that are contrary to its rights and interests in the Aegean Sea, particularly Article 3, which regulates the width of territorial waters, Article 33, which regulates the contiguous zone and Article 121, which regulates the regime of islands.

If UNCLOS were to be implemented in the Aegean Sea, Greece would likely expand its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles, potentially encompassing 70% of the sea. Türkiye is not only cautious about becoming a party to the UNCLOS, but also about any international document that refers directly or indirectly to this convention.

Dismissing disinformation

Meanwhile, the Center for Combating Disinformation has refuted claims that Türkiye joined the Bogota Declaration in response to public pressure.

In a statement released on its social media account, the center emphasized that allegations on social media suggesting Türkiye initially refrained from signing the Hague Group’s Bogota Declaration, only to face backlash and later sign it, were deliberate disinformation.

The statement underlined that Türkiye’s stance on Palestine is rooted in international law and human rights.

Türkiye severed trade ties with Israel in May 2024 and consistently supported the Palestinian cause on international platforms.

The center urged citizens to trust only official sources for information on foreign policy matters.

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The terror-free Türkiye initiative launched last year by government ally Nationalist Movement Party’s (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli entered a new stage this month when terrorist group PKK started laying down arms. As Parliament prepares to set up a committee to oversee technicalities regarding the initiative, Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç said on Wednesday that they would provide support to the committee’s work. Tunç also flatly rejected claims that the state negotiated with the PKK.

“The state does not negotiate. (Disarmament) is not linked to any condition (set by the PKK),” Tunç told broadcaster NTV in an interview.

Bahçeli, who echoed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in his warning about vigilance against Israel’s expansionist policies in the region, has called upon for the formation of a “united home front” in Türkiye before he made his unprecedented call for terror-free Türkiye. He reasoned that Turks, Kurds and all segments of society should maintain unity against external threats. The PKK, for decades, exploited the Kurdish community, claiming to fight for their “rights” and recruited disillusioned youth from the community who, for a long time, were deprived of their right,s such as education in their own language at public schools.

The MHP has a hard-line policy about the fight against terrorism and long advocated strict military, law enforcement measures to contain the PKK threat. Thus, Bahçeli’s call to the PKK’s jailed ringleader, Abdullah Öcalan, to convince the PKK to lay down arms surprised many. Yet, both Bahçeli and the government insist that the terrorist group would not be tolerated during the process of the initiative and will be responded to in kind if it carries out any terror attack or reneges on their pledge to abandon arms.

Tunç said it was not easy to reach the point where the PKK consented to dissolution and underlined that the task of the new committee in Parliament was important. “It is essential that the process is shaped by recommendations of the lawmakers and decisions and regulations follow them. Türkiye has to get rid of the terrorism problem. For more than 40 years, terrorism has been the biggest obstacle on the path to development,” he said.

“The next phase is important. In particular, monitoring the disarmament process and ensuring it is permanent is critical. For this reason, all state institutions are closely and sensitively following this process in full coordination. Without coordination among institutions, success is not possible. The National Intelligence Organization (MIT), our ministry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of National Defense are evaluating this matter in complete coordination and taking the necessary steps,” he said.

“The terrorist group’s decision to disband and lay down arms is not the result of any negotiation. The state does not engage in such bargaining. We have always said this is not a give-and-take process. There is no question of ‘this will be done in exchange for that.’ Everything done so far has been for the benefit of our people. Our nation knows very well that President Erdoğan, the People’s Alliance (of the AK Party and MHP) and Parliament will never take a step against the people. Whatever is required by the rule of law, the Constitution, our laws and regulations will be carried out. When the commission is established in Parliament begins its work, opinions will be expressed there. Parliament is in full control. The steps to be taken and legislative arrangements to be made are matters for Parliament’s discretion. If there is a need for legislative regulation, we are ready to provide the necessary technical support,” he said.

The minister also clarified speculation regarding the release of Veysi Aktaş, a PKK member who was imprisoned in Imrali Island near Istanbul with Öcalan. Aktaş was released last week from Imralı, where he was transferred to in 2015. He has been imprisoned since 1994. Tunç denied it was a precedent for the mass release of PKK members, as some social media users claimed. “(Aktaş) was sentenced for killing two PKK members accused of espionage within the terrorist group. The conditional release period for this sentence is 30 years. The convict applied for parole after serving 30 years and was often denied. After 32 years, release is granted. Therefore, he was released after serving his sentence,” he said.

Juvenile offenders

Tunç also responded to questions about juvenile offenders amid public outcry over underage offenders who sometimes walk away with lenient sentences for violent crimes. The issue has been under the spotlight, especially after the murder of Ahmet Minguzzi, a 14-year-old boy who was stabbed to death in Istanbul in January by two boys at the ages of 15 and 16. The boy’s family is campaigning for harsher sentences for perpetrators known as “children pushed to crime,” as underage offenders are described under Turkish laws. Tunç said they were working on several proposals to amend the laws to accommodate the public demand for harsher sentences.

“The trial of children is important, both for juvenile offenders and child victims. We will evaluate these with our scientists, lawyers, academics, practitioners and members and chairs of relevant first-instance, appellate and Supreme Court chambers. Taking into account societal sensitivities, issues such as deterrence, child protection and possibly new categories for ages 15-18 or different regulations for 16-18 are being discussed. No final decision has been made yet. There are various proposals. We will evaluate all suggestions, prepare alternatives and drafts, and present them to Parliament and our lawmakers for consideration. The key point is ensuring justice in criminal matters for children.”

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Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş held talks on Wednesday with Yusuf Raza Gillani, chairperson of the Senate of Pakistan, in Geneva, Switzerland. The two men were in the city to attend the Sixth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament. The high-level international event, hosted by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) at the United Nations Office in Geneva, convenes parliamentary leaders from around the world alongside representatives of the United Nations and began on July 29.

In a social media post after their meeting, Kurtulmuş said he was pleased to have met Gillani. He noted that Türkiye-Pakistan relations elevated to another level after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s February visit to the Asian country, where Islamabad and Ankara signed 24 cooperation deals.

“We firmly believe that the mutual high-level visits and meetings between Türkiye and Pakistan will further advance the already strong relations between our countries in every field. Türkiye stands by Pakistan in the face of its challenges and trials, and we continue to support Pakistan. I told my friend Gillani that, as in the past, we aim to cooperate with Pakistan in all areas and that the Parliaments should take greater responsibility in strengthening the friendship between our two nations. I sincerely hope our meeting contributes to further strengthening the friendship between Türkiye and Pakistan,” Kurtulmuş said.

Türkiye and Pakistan enjoy historically close ties. Ankara notably voiced support for Islamabad during a military conflict with India in May, prompting backlash from New Delhi. Recently, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Azerbaijan, where they discussed bilateral relations, regional developments and global issues.

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The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has confirmed it would participate in the parliamentary committee tasked with overseeing the dissolution of the PKK terrorist group under the terror-free Türkiye initiative.

The names of the 10 CHP lawmakers who will join the committee will be announced Thursday, Turkish media reported Wednesday.

“The CHP will stay in the committee if it’s making progress,” CHP Chair Özgür Özel said in an interview with a Turkish news outlet on Tuesday.

In May, the PKK, blacklisted as a terrorist group by Türkiye, the U.S., the U.K. and the EU, announced its dissolution and the end of its four-decade terror campaign that cost tens of thousands of lives in Türkiye, as well as in Iraq and Syria.

Most recently, in a ceremony across the border in Iraq earlier this month, PKK members destroyed their weapons as part of the process. Turkish intelligence monitors the process, while Parliament will form a committee to weigh next steps in the initiative, from the fate of disarmed PKK members to their sentencing.

The committee will comprise 51 parliamentarians. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) will be represented by 21 members; its ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), and the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) will contribute four lawmakers each, media outlets reported over the weekend. Reports say the committee would be eligible to suggest draft bills if 31 lawmakers approve it.

“Sometimes there are critical turning points in history. It’s important to be on the right side of history. Not entering any lawmakers into the committee under the current circumstances would waste the historical consistency of the CHP,” Özel argued.

“The committee is actually a judicial commission. Seven of our lawmakers in that commission are legal experts. Politicians, too, will be in that committee. It will include people who represent all of Türkiye,” he said.

Özel, however, insisted on the CHP’s condition for “equal representation” in the committee.

The committee’s work will concentrate on the state of PKK terrorists who abandoned arms and those who were incarcerated for aiding and abetting the PKK. The PKK is still regarded as a terrorist group, and the committee will likely debate about its future status once the group fully abandons arms.

Along with major parties, smaller ones have also agreed to contribute to the committee, and they are required to declare the names of their lawmakers to the head of Parliament by Thursday.

Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş will chair the committee but will not be eligible for voting on its decisions. The committee, the only one operating at the Parliament, which recently began its summer recess, will convene four times weekly at most and will debate reports presented by intelligence and security units monitoring the PKK’s disarmament.

Media reports indicate that the committee will chart a roadmap for the initiative and discuss regulations and amendments to accelerate it, including those similar to the “Homecoming Law” implemented in 2003, which offered lenient sentences for PKK members not involved in terror attacks. The committee’s work will serve as a guideline for future bills on terrorism.

Far-right parties are skeptical of the initiative and even outright hostile to efforts to end terrorism. Among them are the Good Party (IP) and the Victory Party (ZP), which heavily criticized the initiative. The IP shunned the parliamentary committee and will stage rallies across Türkiye in August.

Addressing an event in the western province of Çanakkale on Sunday, Kurtulmuş stated that the committee would oversee the initiative and take steps to implement any necessary political and legal regulations to advance it further.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, MHP lawmaker Feti Yıldız, after meeting with MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli, described the committee as a “brotherhood and solidarity committee” in a post on X, stoking media reports that the MHP is suggesting a brand-new campaign for the assembly.

In response to the claims, Yıldız, in a following post, said the committee’s name remains “national unity and solidarity committee,” dismissing reports as a “futile attempt to fuel debates through the committee’s title.”

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The Turkish Coast Guard Command rescued 19 irregular migrants from certain death in the Aegean Sea after their Greek counterparts reportedly pushed them back into Turkish territorial waters late Tuesday.

Irregular migrants from Somalia, Yemen, Sudan, Congo, Eritrea, Djibouti, Gambia and Ethiopia were traveling in a rubber boat toward Greece, the gateway to the EU for thousands of migrants every year. The coast guard squads patrolling the sea near Ayvacık, a western town in the province of Çanakkale, rushed to their aid after the Greeks forced them into Turkish waters.

“Pushback” is a controversial and illegal practice, but Greece repeatedly engaged in it, according to reports by human rights organizations monitoring migrant flow into Greece that escalated in the past decade.

Europe has traditionally been receptive to migrants, but attitudes have shifted over the past few years. For instance, in Greece, anyone caught helping migrants to shore today may face charges, including facilitating illegal entry into Greece or assisting a criminal enterprise, under a 2021 law passed as part of Europe’s efforts to counter mass migration from the Middle East and Asia.

It’s one example of deterrents that have greatly reduced arrivals to Europe since the 2015 migration crisis, but that rights groups say risk the lives of those attempting to enter. Ten years ago, Lesbos, a tourist destination near Türkiye, ringed by quiet villages and tree-lined coves, became the first stop for half a million people headed for Europe from countries including Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. Lesbos residents helped them find food and shelter and the island became a hub for charities and aid workers and a symbol of Europe’s solidarity toward people fleeing war and poverty. Today, the island shows how far government responses have hardened against people seeking refuge in Europe.

In 2015, some countries initially welcomed the new arrivals, especially those fleeing Syria’s civil war. German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the borders to nearly 900,000 asylum seekers that year. But communities felt overwhelmed. Her ratings plummeted and today, anti-immigration policies are multiplying across Europe.

By 2024, irregular migrant arrivals to the European Union had decreased to around 240,000, less than a quarter of the 2015 levels, according to data from the EU border agency Frontex. Just 11,200 migrants arrived in Lesbos last year, according to figures from the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR. When migrants arrive in Lesbos now, they are often intercepted by police as they near a coastal road used by holidaygoers. Charity workers require special permission from authorities to assist those in need ashore, or they may face fines or imprisonment. A new camp to house migrants is under construction in a pine forest on a remote part of the island. In the village of Skala Sikamias – which a decade ago was a frenzy of damaged dinghies, exhausted migrants and charity workers – tourists now dine on grilled fish while cicadas hum from the beachside pines.

The island’s tourism industry has recovered after a sharp drop. In 2024, the number of people arriving on international flights to Lesbos surpassed 76,000, according to Greece’s tourism confederation, SETE, reaching levels not seen since before the crisis.

“The island is moving on,” said Panagiotis Christofas, the mayor of Lesbos’ main city, Mytilene. “The crisis is in the past for us.”

Not for everyone, though.

At around 2 a.m. on April 3, Beck Morad Sadeji was on a dinghy approaching the island with 30 other migrants from Afghanistan, including his wife of 55 years and his daughter, he told Reuters. The coast guard ordered the boat back to Türkiye, he said. However, as a coast guard vessel approached the dinghy, it destabilized the overloaded craft, which was carrying six families, including infants.

People fell overboard, but the coast guard staff watched for several minutes without helping, Sadeji said. Eight people, including his wife and a 2-year-old boy, drowned.

“If they had helped, no one would’ve died,” Sadeji said.

In a statement on April 3, the coast guard said it launched a rescue operation immediately when it saw the dinghy was taking on water. In response to Reuters requests for comment, it said the coast guard always acts “with professionalism and absolute respect for human life.” Since 2015, Greece’s coast guard service has saved 263,000 third-country nationals in danger at sea, it said.

Sadeji said he still has nightmares and urges other migrants not to come.

‘Humans help humans’

“Humans are supposed to help other humans,” he said. Migrant deaths in the Mediterranean, while far below 2015 levels, are still common. In the Eastern Mediterranean route alone, which includes Greece, 191 migrants died or went missing trying to reach Europe in 2024, according to data from the International Organisation for Migration, a U.N. agency. The IOM recorded 2,573 migrant deaths and disappearances on all Mediterranean routes last year. Greece has come under scrutiny for its treatment of migrants and refugees approaching by sea, including one shipwreck in 2023 in which hundreds of migrants died after what witnesses said was the coast guard’s attempt to tow their trawler. Frontex said in April that it is reviewing 12 cases of alleged human rights violations by Greece, including some allegations that migrants were pushed back across the frontier. In January, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), which examines complaints against EU member states, found similar violations by Greece.

Greece denies that it violates human rights or that it forcefully returns asylum seekers from its shores.

Meanwhile, Greece’s center-right government is outspoken against refugees coming by sea. In July, the new migration minister, Thanos Plevris, referred to the arrivals as an “invasion.”

“We are worried about the rhetoric,” said Maria Clara Martin, the UNHCR’s representative in Greece. “People will demand more restrictive policies just as conflict is on the rise.”

Lesbos’ change of response was spurred by a March 2016 deal between the EU and Türkiye whereby Syrian refugees who arrived in Greece from Türkiye would be returned back across the border. Greece changed from being a transit country on the route to northern Europe to a holding zone where migrants had to wait for their fate to be decided.

The EU wants more rigid rules. In May, the European Commission proposed an amendment to EU law that would allow member states to deport rejected asylum seekers to countries with which they have no connection. The proposal still needs approval by the European Parliament and the European Council, which represents national governments. In July, the U.K. and France announced stricter migration controls, and Greece passed a law temporarily halting asylum claims from migrants arriving from North Africa.