US analyst: Turkish threats against northeastern Syria have become Turkey s strategy
Washington – North-Press Agency
Hadeel Oueis
A US delegation have arrived in Turkey on Tuesday to begin working with the Turkish counterpart for the implementation of the proposed safe zone agreement in northeastern Syria.
The Ministry of Defense in Ankara said that six US officials had arrived in southeastern Turkey to start establishing the joint operations center as part of the agreement.
The agreement, which was reached last week by the US and Turkey, guarantees the gradual establishment of a proposed safe zone near the Syrian-Turkish borders for the Syrian civilians who had fled the conflict, with Turkish demands to exclude the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from the borders.
Despite the arrival of the US delegation in Turkey to achieve what was agreed on last week, the former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official Norman Raul told North-Press that a number of disputed points still remain unresolved, and could lead to the collapse of the talks and their objectives at any moment.
Raul added that one of the terms that Turkey insists on while the United States opposes is “to ensure that the safe zone is free of SDF, and Turkey demands that the depth of the safe zone should be around 30km, while Washington offers a zone ranging around 5km. The United States also fears the security vacuum in these territories in case of distancing the SDF which is fighting the Islamic State (ISIS).
In the same context, the political analyst Joe Macaron has told North-Press that the crack in the US-Turkish relationship isn’t new-born, while the Turkish reaction is linked to the general political scene in Turkey, where Turkey is likely to continue its threats against north and east of Syria and the Syrian Kurds, even if it doesn’t intend to launch a military offensive.
Macaron thinks that Washington hasn’t been able to go beyond its principles in Syria yet, and it won’t allow a unilateral Turkish action because of the serious consequences of any military operation. But hours after the agreement with Washington, Turkey’s Erdogan has increased his threats, which means that this threats according to him, has become a strategy for local consumption, which itself opposites of the US continuation of the same path in supporting those who Turkey rejects.
Macaron describes the Turkish proposals as “extremist and rejected by the US”, where the perception remains very different between the US and Turkey, when Turkey demands a safe zone of about 32 km deep, which was rejected by most US institutions from 2014, and despite the continuation of the talks over the two US administrations with Turkey for more than half a decade, there is still no final agreement.
Russian media
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has announced his rejection of the US-Turkish agreement regarding the establishment of a safe zone in northeastern Syria.
In this regard, Russian analyst Maxim Soshokov wrote that “Any US-Turkish confrontation is being satisfied by Russia, where Russia wants the region to be free of the Turkish and US influence, and it sees their presence as illegal.
While the Russian media has leaked on Tuesday reports of a US-Turkish agreement about the establishment of the safe zone in the north of Syria at a depth of 5 km and a width of 100 km, and the local military forces will patrol the area from which heavy weapons will be extracted along with the continuation of US-Turkish joint air patrols.
While photographer Eddie Simagic accompanied the Turkish-backed Syrian opposition groups has told “al-Arabi al-Jadeed” on Tuesday morning, that the main forces on which Turkey relies to launch an attack against the Syrians, are still in complete silence and haven’t received any orders to move from their own barracks in northern Aleppo countryside and Turkey.
Simagic added that the opposition groups were waiting for Turkish orders to leave to related camps to the planned safe zone.
According to Simagic, the United States is likely to have persuaded Turkey to stop any military action in Syria after it has allowed Ankara to move its military vehicles to the west of Manbij.
He also said, “In comparison with former operations, Turkish-backed militias were mobilized a week before they were pushed to fight, but till this day, they are no orders for their readiness”.