Erdogan and Shara’s “Sunnification” Project

Excerpt

Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024, Turkey has pursued a singular objective: the “Sunnification” of Syria. Behind his rhetoric, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has shown little interest in fostering a stable, inclusive Syria that values all of its diverse communities. Instead, the interim government in Damascus, led by former jihadist Ahmed al-Shara, reflects Erdogan’s vision of a future Syria rooted in a narrow, exclusionary interpretation of Sunni Islam.

This vision’s logical conclusion can be seen in the atrocities against Syria’s Druze minority in Suwayda. Sunni militias have escalated attacks against Druze militias and civilians, images of which have flooded mainstream media—men beaten in the streets, homes invaded, and individuals humiliated by being forcibly shaved to conform to Sunni norms. Druze militants have conducted violent reprisals of their own. The logic behind this brutality is chillingly simple: the perpetrators see their actions as a form of jihad. This conquest entitles them to seize property, land, and, if possible, the souls of those they deem non-believers.

This violent ideology does not solely target the Druze. Jihadist elements embedded within Syria’s new bureaucracy, military, and security services harbor similar intentions toward Kurds, Alawites, and Christians. In response to the attacks in Suwayda, the Shara government dispatched its so-called security forces to “restore order.” 

Yet these forces are not impartial arbiters of peace. They are militias staffed by jihadists, whose loyalty lies not with the Syrian people but with their sectarian cause.

Sinan Ciddi is a Senior Fellow on Turkey at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) in Washington, DC.