Former Pentagon official: Ankara has no good intentions in US-Turkish talks regarding Syria
Washington DC – North-Press Agency
Hadeel Oueis
The US-Turkish talks regarding the establishment of a safe zone in northern Syria are still unfruitful.
Michael Rubin a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a former Pentagon official told North-Press: “Ankara isn’t acting with good intentions with Washington, so the talks are interrupted, and the attempts to overcome the imposed obstacles by Turkey always fail.
Rubin says that the attention is shifted to the American diplomats who continue to avoid the mistake of establishing a settlement with Turkey, especially a settlement that brings Turkish soldiers to the region because this will bring extremism back to the region and make the conflict inevitable.
Turkish official statements were announced on Friday regarding the agreement of starting the establishment of the safe zone next week, while observers say that there are several disputes which continue to prevent the US and Turkey from implementing the agreement on the ground.
Aaron Stein, the director of the Middle East Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia (FPRI) said: “There are no indications that Ankara will make concessions and recognize that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is a legitimate party”.
He said that the difference in viewpoints is still deep between Washington and Ankara and that Washington seeks through the joint operation room to gain more time to prevent Turkey from any unilateral intervention by a military operation.
Washington and Ankara are far from signing a comprehensive agreement on Syria at present.
Unreachable agreement
Dr. Hassan Majed, Strategic Advisor at D&S in France said that Ankara and Washington are far from reaching a comprehensive understanding leading to a sustainable agreement on northern Syria at the moment, and the final results regarding the safe zone would only appear in a medium or long-term time frame.
Majid believes that Turkey may abandon some of its demands and may retreat the deployment of the observation posts in coordination with various parties as Russia, US, and Iran in exchange with political gains. However, it will remain obliged to pay for gains that meet its security concerns on its southern borders.
According to Majed, the deteriorated situation of Idlib and the fall of areas which Turkey was able to control in favor of the Syrian government and Russia, pushes Turkey to seek new areas for control in Syria, despite the recent complications in the US-Turkish relationship, which are hindering reaching a final agreement.
Majed draws the attention that the European and French pressures to keep the SDF as a guarantor of security in the areas where the Islamic State was defeated, is due to the consequences of the spread of terrorist sleeper cells on the European countries, while the French ISIS prisoners and those who are tried before in the Iraqi courts, create a controversial issue among the French public opinion.