Turkey is lobbying to prevent a planned meeting between Syrian Kurdish leaders and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani from taking place in Paris, three regional officials speaking on background told Al-Monitor. 

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s trip to Damascus — where he met interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa — is focused in part on that effort, the sources said. The visit on Thursday comes amid Turkish threats to take unspecified action against the Kurds should they fail to adhere to a March 10 agreement signed between Sharaa and the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazlum Kobane, which provides a framework for the integration of Kurdish civilian and military structures into the central government.

A meeting set for July 25 in Paris to advance the talks was canceled by the Syrian side just as the Syrian Kurdish delegation was preparing to travel via Erbil using transportation arranged by Nechirvan Barzani, the president of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region. There are no direct flights between Erbil and Paris.

The official reason given for the cancellation was the recent unrest between Sunni Bedouin clans and the Druze-majority population in Suwayda that claimed over 1,000 lives. However, sources said the "real" reason was Turkish pressure. According to them, the Syrian side wanted advance guarantees that the Kurds would give in to Damascus' demand that they withdraw from parts of Deir ez-Zor province — a predominantly Arab region currently administered by the Kurdish-led autonomous administration. The Kurdish delegation, for its part, stated that it was open to joint governance with the central government in those areas but insisted on retaining primary responsibility for security until a final nationwide settlement on governance is reached.