[1] Syria and Turkey had long had a strained relationship, owing to historical Syrian claims on the Hatay Province, water disputes over the flow of the Tigris–Euphrates river system and the two nations' opposite alignments within the context of the Cold War, as Turkey had joined NATO, while Syria grew close to the Soviet Union.

[2][3] In the 1980s and 1990s, Syria–Turkey relations became even more strained as Syria had permitted both the establishment of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) camps within its territory, as well as allowed its leader, Abdullah Öcalan, to reside within the country.

The PKK sought to establish an independent Kurdistan, which included areas held by Turkey and to this end fought in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict against the Turkish government.

[1] The Syrian government declared that Turkey had violated the understanding brought by the agreement by arming rebel groups inside Syria.

[10] The Syrian government has since declared that it felt no longer bound by the agreement, but retained a "readiness" to return to it, if Turkey were to cease support for the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army and other rebel armed groups in Syria, as well as withdraw its troops from the Turkish occupied areas of northern Syria.