EU would obstruct security mechanism in NE Syria – Analyst

Journalist and Kurdish affairs analyst Wladimir van Wilgenburg said that the European countries would obstruct implementing the proposed security mechanism in northeastern Syria, where the Turkish president is looking for international approval and support for the formation and funding from the Europeans; pointing out that the camps in northeastern Syria are a big challenge, while Westerners see those who got out from the Islamic State (ISIS) territories and settled inside the camps as a real threat to the region.

Wladimir van Wilgenburg told North-Press: “In Erdogan’s speech at the UN General Assembly, he told the world what he wants from the safe zone, which is a demographic change, and a creation of what previously the Syrian regime called (an Arab strip) that confines the Kurdish and Christian minorities, and prevents them from an outlet on the borders by sending about 2-3 million refugees selected by Turkey”.

The Kurdish affairs analyst believes that Erdogan faces major challenges to achieve this zone, as he is seeking international approval for its formation, while seeking funding from the Europeans, who in their turn, see this project so far as unrealistic, where northeastern Syria is now a stable region and a home for thousands of Syrian refugees.

He pointed to the challenge of those who got out from the Islamic State territories and settled in the camps as a real threat to the region, according to the West. These camps are a starting point that enables the extremist terrorist groups of resuming their activities at any moment when security collapses or a state of chaos in the region. 

Wladimir van Wilgenburg said that there is now an Iranian-Turkish-Russian consensus on the desire to push Washington, which stands on the way of their ambitions in Syria; however, after the implementation of this agreement, the fierce conflict would return, which was the bloodiest conflict on Syrian territories, and thus, the war will return, he explained; “This is known by the decision-makers in the world, and no one wants the war to return to Syria”.

Wladimir van Wilgenburg said that the U.S. Congress with his Republican and Democratic parties believe the unrealistic President Trump’s proposal: “As we see them taking opposite paths of declaring the withdrawal, we see in the Senate a push for more funding for civil and local bodies close to SDF to establish sustainable stability in the region in the conviction that the Islamic State with its sleeper cells is ready to onslaught and break down the security and safety situation in the region in any moment”.

He added that the decision-makers also know that any Turkish incursion into the so-called “security mechanism” would destroy another U.S. strategy, which is to limit the spread of the Iranian influence in the region. The Syrian opposition has some illusion of gaining them through the “Constitutional Committee”.

He pointed out that the Iranian-Russian-Turkish consensus is now confined to one point: the desire of these countries to get America out and weaken its influence in the region. As the next stage will be the struggle of these three powers for Russia’s implementing what it calls the return of the Syrian government’s sovereignty over all of Syrian territories, including what Erdogan calls the “safe zone”.

Wladimir van Wilgenburg concluded: “I still see the danger of excluding SDF and its political branches from the political talks, but I think they are empty talks that will not lead to any agreements nor consensus.”