Tal Abyad Council discusses locals’ concerns of security mechanism with Global Coalition
Tal Abyad/Girê Sipî – North-Press Agency
Yahya Omar/Delsoz Deldar
The US-led Global Coalition to defeat ISIS held several meetings with civil councils in the bordering areas of northern and eastern Syria to reassure the locals concerns regarding the Turkish threats to invade their areas.
“The United States and Turkey have agreed on a security mechanism in Tal Abyad/Girê Sipî and Ras al-Ein /Sere-Kaniye to allay Turkish concerns,” as the coalition leadership said.
The security mechanism includes the withdrawal of People’s Protection Units (YPG) and heavy weapons from bordering points with Turkey at a depth of 5 km to 14 km.
The co-chair of Tal Abyad district council Mohammed Sheikh Ali explained to North-Press that the local people of Girê Sipî have fears of a Turkish invasion, pointing out that they discussed these concerns with the Global Coalition, he said: “During our meetings with the Global Coalition forces, we discussed several topics, the most important of which are the concerns of our people, as they assured to us that Turkey will not militarily enter our territories, and the solution will be political”.
Regarding Turkey’s future presence in the region, Sheikh Ali said: “The coalition told us that the Turkish presence in the region will be in the form of patrols alongside the coalition forces, while we will set up military council posts in the safe zone under the supervision of the Autonomous Administration of north and east Syria”.
He added, “we are not attacking Turkey, but it is the one that constantly threatens us”, pointing out that people of the region had already demanded the safe zone to be along the borders with Turkey and not only a distance of 100 km, between Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ein, he said: “We discussed with the coalition the safe zone would be along the Syrian-Turkish borders in northern and eastern Syria”.
The YPG had begun to withdraw its forces from the bordering areas and has completely filled up the tunnels, replacing the forces with local military councils instead, in coordination with the Global Coalition forces and the SDF.