October 21, 2026
Türkiye made it a condition for achieving full guarantees for the security of its borders to reconsider its military presence in both Iraq and Syria, stressing that the presence of its forces in the two countries remains linked to developments on the ground and the level of regional cooperation.
In a written response to Agence France-Presse, Turkish Defense Minister Yaşar Guler confirmed the continued military presence of his country in Iraqi and Syrian territories, stressing that a review of the locations of the deployment of forces will not take place until after ensuring that the necessary conditions for regional and border security are met.
The minister did not reveal the exact numbers of deployed forces, but an Iraqi security source estimated the number of Turkish forces in Iraq at between 800 and 1,000 members. In Syria, previous Turkish sources indicated that the number of forces ranged between 16,000 and 18,000, coinciding with the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in late 2024, in the absence of more recent and reliable estimates.
Guler explained that the assessment of this presence is not limited to the criterion of the number of elements alone, but is subject to an organizational structure that determines its deployment based on the nature of the threats posed by armed groups, border security requirements, and field developments on the ground, in addition to joint cooperation with the countries concerned.
