Raqqa – Sherwan Youssef – North-Press Agency
The talks of establishing a safe zone in eastern Euphrates in the north of Syria poses a major challenge to the United States, which shares common relations in the region with Turkey and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Turkey considers the autonomous administration of northern and eastern Syria as a “terrorist” administration, while the SDF, whose Kurds are the mainstay, believe that Turkey is a historical enemy that rejects the Kurdish presence.
Turning the safe zone from words and statements into reality and engaging in the application of its complex details puts the United States in front of difficult choices in dealing between two strategically opposing sides.
Turkey wants U.S. approval, even implicit; to enter specific areas east of the Euphrates River, but the United States appears to be struggling not to abandon its allies in northern Syria, and at the same time, the US wants to maintain relations with Turkey.
Attention now is focused on the “Manbij Model”, the city of Manbij city, to establish a zone which is free of People Protection Units (YPG) fighters with an independent civilian administration and a military force that is directly supported by the United States. However, Turkey seems to believe that it has been deceived by the US in signing the “Road-Map of Manbij”.
The Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said yesterday that they are working to “establish a peace corridor or a safe zone instead, but this will not be like Manbij, as we will never allow procrastination because this is a security issue, which is very important to us.”
Contrary to the Turkish statements regarding its explanation of the safe zone and its agreement with the United States, the Pentagon has confirmed in a statement that talks with Ankara are ongoing, which resulted in an understanding on “security mechanisms” and “joint command” without establishing a “safe zone,” as Turkey claims.
Contradictory Turkish-American statements point to the “disagreement” between the two parties and confirm that what Turkey aspires to in the eastern Euphrates is to restore the “Afrin scenario”, which is far from the U.S.-Turkish talks table.
A reliable ally
“Since it had directly and intensively intervened in the Middle East through the Iraqi portal in 2003, the United States has been looking for a trusted ally, which has been the case through its intelligence apparatus since the beginning of the Syrian crisis 2011,” said Turkish analyst Barzan Isso.
“But the US was confronted by the rebellion of the ally or his conditions and ambitions that are contrary to the American aspirations in the region,” added Isso.
He spoke to North-Press about “Kobani battle” in 2014, which opened the way for the United States to “discover its trusted ally of Kurdish fighters who were resisting and fighting the Islamic State militants (ISIS) in the farthest streets of the city.”
According to Barzan Isso, the specialized analyst in political affairs and international relations in Istanbul, he believes that the U.S abandoning of its Kurdish allies in Syria is “impossible.”
He added, “All Syrian opposition groups that had close ties to the CIA were eliminated and controlled by Turkey and engaged in radical Islamist groups, while the United States was training them and was relying on them to build flexible secular strategic projects.”
Mr Isso sees that the U.S. alliance with the Kurds and the support for their secular project is “the result of Turkey’s failure and reaching to a strategic impasse.”
“The US-Kurdish relations are the result of the Americans’ search for a reliable ally for more than 11 years, and will not give up on them,” Isso said.
The United States maintains more than 2,000 troops, along with dozens of French and British troops in north-eastern Syria at military bases deployed in all areas controlled by the SDF, and it has recently formed observation posts on the border areas between Turkey and the eastern Euphrates to prevent any clashes between the two parties.