Turkey and the United States agreed to establish a joint
operation center in Turkey to coordinate and manage a planned safe zone in
northeast Syria, a move that appeared to reduce the chance of imminent Turkish
military action.
The two countries gave few details of the deal, which followed
three days of talks between military delegations and months of stalemate over
how far the safe zone should extend into Syria and who should command forces
patrolling it.
The proposed zone aims to
secure a strip of land stretching more than 400 km (250 miles) along Syria’s
northeastern border with Turkey, much of it controlled by the Kurdish YPG
militia that fought with U.S. support against ISIS militants.
Ankara sees the YPG as
terrorists who pose a grave security threat and has demanded that the United
States sever its ties with the Kurdish militia.
Turkey has twice sent forces
into northern Syria in the last three years to drive back YPG and ISIS fighters
from the border, and President Tayyip Erdogan had said on Sunday a third
incursion was imminent, targeting YPG-controlled territory east of the
Euphrates river.
Speaking at a news conference
in Ankara on Wednesday alongside his Ukrainian counterpart, Erdogan said that
talks with the United States had progressed in a “really positive” direction.
The process regarding the safe zone would begin with the
operation center being formed, he said.
“What really mattered here
was the issue of this step being taken on the east of the Euphrates, and this
is now being realized together with the Americans,” he said.
The two countries, allies in
NATO, said they agreed on the “rapid implementation of initial measures to
address Turkey’s security concerns”.
They also said the safe zone
should be a “peace corridor,” and that every effort would be made so that
Syrians displaced by war could return to their country.
Neither side said whether
they had overcome two main points that had divided them.
Washington has proposed a
two-tier safe zone, with a 5-kilometer (3-mile) demilitarized strip bolstered
by an additional 9 km (5.6 miles) cleared of heavy weapons - stretching in
total less than half the distance into Syria that Turkey is seeking.
Turkey has also said it must
have ultimate authority over the zone, another point of divergence with the
United States.
The Turkish Defence Ministry
said it would be giving no further details for now of the agreement. News of
the deal helped the lira hit its strongest level this week, of 5.469 to the
dollar. It stood at 5.487 at 1604 GMT.
Turkish Forces Deployed
Turkish Defence Minister
Hulusi Akar said earlier that Washington was shifting closer to Ankara’s views
on the proposed safe zone.
He said Turkey’s plans for a
military deployment there were complete. “But we said we wanted to act together
with our friend and ally, the United States,” state-owned Anadolu Agency quoted
him as saying.
Three Turkish officials who
spoke to Reuters this week had expressed impatience over the talks and warned
that Ankara was ready to act on its own.
A top Syrian Kurdish official
told Reuters on Wednesday that any Turkish attack on Kurdish-led forces in
northeast Syria would spark a “big war”.
U.S. President Donald Trump
announced last year that U.S. forces would leave Syria and began an initial
withdrawal, a decision applauded by Ankara, and the two NATO allies agreed to
create the safe zone.
On Tuesday, a U.S. Defense
Department report warned about a revival of ISIS in Syria’s northeast, saying
U.S.-backed Kurdish groups were not equipped to handle the resurgent jihadist
cells without U.S. support.
“The partial (U.S.) drawdown
(has) occurred at a time when these fighters need additional training and
equipping to build trust with local communities and to develop the human-based
intelligence necessary to confront resurgent (ISIS) cells and insurgent
capabilities in Syria,” the report said.