Syria’s territorial integrity must "absolutely” be preserved, the Turkish president stressed on Monday in the wake of the rapid collapse of the decades-long Assad regime.

“Neither the (terrorist group) PKK and its extensions in Syria nor Daesh/ISIS are our country's interlocutors, but rather its enemies. Syria's territorial integrity must absolutely be protected,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after a Cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara, citing two terror groups that tried to exploit the instability in Syria to carve out territory, including along Türkiye’s borders.

Türkiye welcomes the liberation of Tel Rifaat and Manbij, two Syrian cities that suffered for years from terrorist occupation despite promises made, said Erdogan.

The Bashar Assad regime “arrogantly” rejected Türkiye's many calls to settle the Syrian conflict through dialogue and did not appreciate Ankara's extended hand, he added.

When Assad fled on Sunday, he left behind a Syria with nearly one million people killed and 12 million uprooted, with many cities turned into rubble, Erdogan said, referring to the death and destruction from 13 years of civil war.

Giving the names of Turkish provinces along the border, Erdogan said: “If one half of our heart is Gaziantep, Hatay and Sanliurfa, the other half is (the Syrian cities of) Afrin, Aleppo, Hama, Homs, and Damascus.”

Türkiye’s sensitivity on Syria was never driven by self-interest, said the Turkish president, adding that Ankara always viewed the issue through “the lens of conscience.”

The Turkish nation will forever carry their embrace of oppressed Syrians facing dark days as a “badge of honor,” Erdogan said, seemingly referring to the millions of Syrians who came to Türkiye during the war, many of whom are now flocking back to Syria.

Ankara has no designs on the territory of any other country, Erdogan reiterated, underlining that the sole purpose of its anti-terrorist cross-border operations is to protect Türkiye.

“As of yesterday, a dark era has ended in Syria, bright days have begun,” he said.

He also vowed Türkiye will not tolerate the emergence of new sources of terrorism beyond its borders.

With its “peaceful, active” policies that change the course of world affairs, Türkiye shapes history, and rewrites both its own and human history, said Erdogan.

Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia after anti-regime groups took control of Damascus early Sunday, signaling the collapse of the Baath Party regime, which had been in power in Syria since 1963.