DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A U.S. envoy said on Wednesday that Syria’s central government and the Kurds remain at odds over plans on merging their forces after the latest round of talks, a persistent obstacle as the new authorities in Damascus struggle to consolidate control after the country’s yearslong civil war.

U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who is also a special envoy to Syria, told The Associated Press after meetings in Damascus, the Syrian capital, that there are still significant differences between the two sides. Barrack held talks with Mazloum Abdi, head of the Kurdish-led and U.S. backed Syrian Democratic Forces, and Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa.

The development comes after a move by the Trump administration took effect this week, revoking a terrorism designation of the former insurgent group led by al-Sharaa, which was behind a lightning offensive last December that ousted Syria’s longtime autocrat Bashar Assad.

Revoking the designation was part of a broader U.S. engagement with al-Sharaa’s new, transitional government.

A deal vague in details

In early March, the former insurgents — now the new authorities in Damascus — signed a landmark deal with the SDF, a Kurdish-led force that had fought alongside U.S. troops against the militant Islamic State group and which controls much of northeastern Syria.

Under that deal, the SDF forces would merge with the new Syrian national army. The agreement, which is supposed be implemented by the end of the year, would also bring all border crossings with Iraq and Turkey, airports and oil fields in the northeast under the central government’s control. They are now controlled by the SDF.

Detention centers housing thousands of Islamic State militants, now guarded by the SDF, would also come under government control.

However, the agreement left the details vague, and progress on implementation has been slow. A major sticking point has been whether the SDF would remain as a cohesive unit in the new army — which the Syrian Kurds are pushing for — or whether the force would be dissolved and its members individually absorbed into the new military.

Barrack said that is still “a big issue” between the two sides.

‘Baby steps’

“I don’t think there’s a breakthrough,” Barrack said after Wednesday’s meetings. “I think these things happen in baby steps, because it’s built on trust, commitment and understanding.”

He added that “for two parties that have been apart for a while and maybe an adversarial relationship for a while, they have to build that trust step by step.”

Also, Turkish-backed factions affiliated with the new Syrian government have over the years clashed with the SDF, which Turkey considers a terrorist group because of its association with the Kurdish separatist Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which had waged a decades-long insurgency within Turkey before recently announcing it would lay down its weapons.

The United States also considers the PKK a terrorist group but is allied with the SDF.

Barrack said that though “we’re not there” yet, Damascus had “done a great job” in presenting options for the SDF to consider.

“I hope they will and I hope they’ll do it quickly,” he said.

From skepticism to trust

A key turning point for Syria came when U.S. President Donald Trump met with al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia in May and announced that Washington would lift decades of sanctions, imposed over Assad’s government.

Trump took steps to do so after their meeting and subsequently, the U.S. moved to remove the terrorist designation from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, al-Sharaa’s force that spearheaded the offensive against Assad.

The U.S. played a key role in brokering the deal announced in March between al-Sharaa’s government and the SDF and has urged the Syrian Kurdish authorities to integrate with Damascus.

Barrack said Washington has “complete confidence in the Syrian government and the new Syrian government’s military,” while the SDF has been a “valuable partner” in the fight against IS and that the U.S. “wants to make sure that they have an opportunity … to integrate into the new government in a respectful way.”

The U.S. has begun scaling down the number of troops it has stationed in Syria — there are about 1,300 U.S. forces now — but Barrack said Washington is in “no hurry” to pull out completely.

Prospects of Syria-Israel ties

In the interview with the AP, Barrack also downplayed reports of possible breakthroughs in talks on normalizing ties between Syria and Israel.

“My feeling of what’s happening in the neighborhood is that it should happen, and it’ll happen like unwrapping an onion, slowly … as the region builds trust with each other,” he said without elaborating.

Since Assad’s fall, Israel has seized a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in Syria bordering the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights and has launched hundreds of airstrikes on military sites in Syria. Israeli soldiers have also raided Syrian towns outside of the border zone and detained people who they said were militants, sometimes clashing with locals.

Israeli officials have said they are taking the measures to guard their border against another cross-border attack like the one launched by the Palestinian militant Hamas group on Oct. 7, 2023 in southern Israel that triggered the latest war in the Gaza Strip.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Turkish court ordered Wednesday a ban on access to Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok from Turkey, after the platform allegedly disseminated content insulting to Turkey’s president and others.

The chatbot, developed by Musk’s company xAI, posted vulgarities against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his late mother and personalities, while responding to users’ questions on the X social media platform, the pro-government A Haber news channel reported. Offensive responses were also directed toward modern Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, other media outlets said.

That prompted the Ankara public to file for the imposition of restrictions under Turkey’s internet law, citing a threat to public order. A criminal court approved the request early on Wednesday, ordering the country’s telecommunications authority to enforce the ban.

The incident is part of a broader controversy surrounding a recent update to Grok, which resulted in more “politically incorrect” and unfiltered responses.

In response to mounting controversy, X said it was aware of the recent posts and had taken immediate action to remove inappropriate content.

“Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X,” the company said in a statement.

“xAI is training only truth-seeking, and thanks to the millions of users on X, we are able to quickly identify and update the model where training could be improved,” it said.

EDIRNE, Turkey (AP) — On a grass field slick with olive oil and steeped in tradition, hundreds of boys as young as 11 joined the ranks of Turkey’s most time-honored sporting event: the annual Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Championship.

Held every summer in the northwestern city of Edirne, the event is said to date back to the 14th century as a way of keeping the Ottoman Empire’s fighting men fit and ready for battle.

The sport, which is on UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list, sees wrestlers cover themselves in olive oil and try to press their opponent’s back to the ground to win the bout.

Alongside the men contesting, youngsters also don the iconic “kispet” leather trousers to embark on a slippery test of strength, skill and stamina under the scorching sun.

The boys are ranked in divisions based on age, height and build, with the youngest generally placed in the “minik,” or tiny, category. Under strict safety regulations, their matches are shorter and closely supervised.

Most young wrestlers train year-round at local clubs, often in towns where oil wrestling is passed down through generations.

Most young wrestlers train year-round at local clubs, often in towns where oil wrestling is passed down through generations.

While the youngest competitors aren’t wrestling for titles like “baspehlivan,” the grand champion of the men’s matches, their participation is no less significant as it is key to the continuity of a sport that holds deep cultural importance across Turkey.

This year’s contest – the 664th in its history – saw 36-year-old Orhan Okulu win his third men’s title.

“My goal was the golden belt in Kirkpinar and thanks to my God, I succeeded,” Okulu said of the coveted prize.

ISTANBUL (AP) — The mayors of three major cities in southern Turkey were arrested Saturday, state-run media reported, joining a growing list of opposition figures detained since the mayor of Istanbul was imprisoned in March.

Abdurrahman Tutdere, the mayor of Adiyaman, and Zeydan Karalar, who heads Adana municipality, were detained in early morning raids, according to Anadolu Agency. Both are members of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP.

The CHP mayor of Antalya, Muhittin Bocek, was arrested with two other suspects in a separate bribery investigation by the Antalya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, Anadolu reported.

CHP officials have faced waves of arrests this year that many consider aimed at neutralizing Turkey’s main opposition party. The government insists prosecutors and the judiciary act independently but the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu led to the largest street protests Turkey has seen in more than a decade.

Karalar was arrested near Istanbul and Tutdere was arrested in the capital, Ankara, where he has a home. Tutdere posted on X that he was being taken to Istanbul. Police also carried out searches at the municipal offices in Adana and Adiyaman.

Ten people, including Karalar and Tutdere, were arrested as part of an investigation by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office into allegations involving organized crime, bribery and bid-rigging. In a statement, it said the evidence against Karalar and Tutdere had been supplied by a businessman who cooperated with prosecutors following his detention for running a criminal organization and paying bribes.

The mayors had “requested unfair financial benefits from company executives doing business with the municipality,” prosecutors added.

The mayors’ detentions follow the arrests of scores of officials from municipalities controlled by the CHP in recent months.

Following their arrests, CHP Chairman Ozgur Ozel convened a meeting of the party’s senior leadership. Meanwhile, the CHP mayor of Ankara questioned why municipalities controlled by President’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan’ s party were not subjected to the same level of judicial scrutiny as opposition politicians.

“In a system where the law is bent and twisted according to politics, where justice is applied to one group and ignored by another, no one should expect us to trust the rule of law or believe in justice,” Mansur Yavas posted on X.

A wave of arrests targeting the opposition

Imamoglu, widely considered the main challenger to Erdogan ’s 22-year rule, was jailed four months ago over corruption allegations.

The former CHP mayor of Izmir, Turkey’s third-largest city, and 137 municipal officials were detained earlier this week as part of an investigation into alleged tender-rigging and fraud. On Friday, ex-Mayor Tunc Soyer and 59 others were jailed pending trial in what Soyer’s lawyer described as “a clearly unjust, unlawful and politically motivated decision.”

Also Friday, it was reported by state-run media that the CHP mayor of Manavgat, a Mediterranean resort city in Antalya province, and 34 others were detained over alleged corruption.

Imamoglu was officially nominated as his party’s presidential candidate following his imprisonment. Turkey’s next election is due in 2028, but could come sooner.

The crackdown comes a year after the CHP made significant gains in local elections. Adiyaman, which was severely affected by the 2023 earthquake, was among several cities previously considered strongholds for Erdogan to fall to the opposition.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey sent two firefighting aircraft Saturday to help battle wildfires in neighboring Syria as Turkish firefighters battled a blaze on their side of the border and one person was reported dead in the country’s west.

Eleven fire trucks and water support vehicles were also dispatched to help beat back flames in Syria’s northwest Latakia region, according to Raed Al Saleh, the Syrian minister of emergency and disaster management. He posted on X, saying “sudden wildfires in Turkey” delayed their arrival by almost a day.

Turkey has been battling wildfires since June 26.

Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said Saturday that firefighters successfully controlled 10 major fires in western Turkey, but an injured forestry worker had died, the third in the municipality of Odemis in Izmir province.

Authorities said most of the fires in Izmir were caused by faulty power lines.

Meanwhile, in Hatay province, which borders Syria, emergency crews continued fighting a blaze that broke out Friday afternoon in the Dortyol district near a residential area and rapidly intensified due to strong winds, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Some 920 homes had been evacuated as a precaution against the advancing flames, Governor Mustafa Musatli said late Friday.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said 44 suspects had been detained in relation to 65 fires that broke out across the country.

Fires that have hit Turkey, Greece and Syria over the past week have been fueled by soaring temperatures, strong winds, and low humidity. In Turkey, they led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people and damaged some 200 homes.

The Syrian Civil Defense expressed concerns over the presence of unexploded ordnance from the country’s past conflicts in some of the wildfire areas.

Summer fires are common in the eastern Mediterranean region, where experts warn that climate change is intensifying conditions.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Firefighters in Turkey remained locked in a battle to contain flames tearing through forested hillsides in the west of the country on Friday, while similar wildfires in neighboring Greece were largely brought under control.

Wildfires that broke out in at least five locations across Turkey’s Aegean coastal province of İzmir — fueled by soaring temperatures, strong winds, and low humidity — have killed two people, forced the evacuation of tens of thousands and damaged some 200 homes.

Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumakli said Friday that firefighters, supported by water-dropping aircraft, remained on the ground battling a deadly wildfire near the town of Odemis for a third day. Elsewhere, emergency crews worked to halt the spread of a new blaze that broke out late Thursday near the district of Buca.

The fire near Odemis claimed two lives — a forestry worker who died Thursday trying to contain the flames, and an 81-year-old resident who succumbed to smoke inhalation, according to authorities.

“Our intense air and land fight to control the fires in Odemis and Buca,” continues, the minister said on X, without providing further details.

Another wildfire that broke out Wednesday near the popular vacation destination of Cesme was contained Friday, Yumakli said. The fire prompted the evacuation of three neighborhoods and caused temporary road closures.

In Greece, a coastal wildfire on Crete remained under control. But the fire service maintained a large deployment on the island as the authorities feared flare ups due to strong winds.

More than 5,000 tourists, hotel workers and local residents were moved out of the area on Wednesday as the blaze threatened seaside resorts. Several areas of the country remain on alert due to the adverse weather conditions.

Local authorities in Crete estimate that the wildfire has burned approximately 15 square kilometers (3,700 acres) of land.

Turkish officials have not provided an estimate of the total land area consumed by the fires.

Authorities said most of the fires Izmir were caused by faults on power lines. Yumakli blamed the blaze in Buca on sparks caused by construction workers using a grinder to cut through metal.

Summer wildfires are common in both Greece and Turkey, where experts warn that climate change is intensifying conditions.

__

Gatopoulos reported from Athens.