Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara, Turkey, 2018. Photo: AP
ANKARA,— New U.S. proposals for a safe zone in north Syria do not satisfy Turkey, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday, adding that an agreement on the issue needs to reached as soon as possible because Ankara has no patience left.
Turkey has been infuriated by U.S. support for the Kurdish YPG militia, which Ankara considers a terrorist organization. The NATO allies have agreed to create a safe zone in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) in northern Syria following the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the area, which Turkey wants to be cleared of YPG militants.
The YPG, which spearheads the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, has been the main U.S. ally on the ground in Syria during Washington’s fight against Islamic State.
The U.S. special envoy for Syria James Jeffrey was in Ankara this week for talks on the details of the safe zone.
At a news conference in Ankara on Wednesday, Cavusoglu said that the two allies had failed to agree on how deep the safe zone would be, who would control it and whether the YPG would be completely removed from the area.
“We got the impression that they want to enter a stalling process here as in Manbij,” Cavusoglu said, referring to a roadmap agreed last year to clear a northern Syrian town of YPG fighters. “We need to reach an agreement regarding the safe zone as soon as possible because have no patience left.”
Cavusoglu also said that U.S. military officials meeting with a YPG leader on Monday – the same day as Jeffrey’s talks at the foreign ministry – indicated Washington was not sincere.
He said on Monday that if the safe zone in northern Syria is not established, and if threats continue against Turkey, Ankara would launch a military operation east of the Euphrates river, a move that Ankara has threatened in the past.
In January 2019, a senior Syrian Kurdish politician and former co-chair of the Diplomatic Committee of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) Salih Muslim said that he supported a proposed buffer zone along the Turkish border as long as Ankara has no involvement. “We really need a safe area, but without Turkish fingers.”, Salih Muslim told Kurdistan24 TV.
Syria’s Kurds rejected a “security zone” under Turkish control along the Syrian side of the two countries’ border. Senior Kurdish political leader Aldar Khalil said the Kurds would accept the deployment of UN forces along the separation line between Kurdish fighters and Turkish troops to ward off a threatened offensive.
Syrian Kurdish Democratic Party Central Committee Member Sikri Hemo told Firat News Agency ANF about the safe zone the invading Turkish state wants to set up in North and East Syria. Hemo said Turkey is using the safe zone as an excuse to invade the region and stressed that they wish to invade the region and revive Islamic State in the area to be set up.
Hemo mentioned the Turkish state’s military and logistical support for ISIS: “The end of ISIS goes against Turkey’s interests, as they aimed to achieve their regional goals through the ISIS gangs. The invading Turkish state threatens to invade North and East Syria, to activate ISIS cells and revive the organization.”
Turkey fears the creation of a Kurdish autonomous region or Kurdish state in Syrian Kurdistan could encourage separatism amongst its own Kurds, according to analysts.
Analysts believe that Turkey is using the YPG as a pretext to invade Syrian Kurdistan and to undermine the Kurdish autonomous regions.
In 2013, the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party PYD — the political branch of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) — has established three autonomous Cantons of Jazeera, Kobani and Afrin and a Kurdish government across Syrian Kurdistan in 2013. On March 17, 2016, Kurdish authorities announced the creation of a “federal region” made up of those semi-autonomous regions in Syrian Kurdistan.
Washington has for years supported the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria, as part of an international anti-jihadist coalition dominated by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). But U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly announced the pullout from Syria.
U.S. President Donald Trump agreed “100%” with keeping a military presence in Syria. U.S. said in February to leave some 400 U.S. troops in Syria over the longer run. 200 troops to remain in the Syrian Kurdistan in the northeast as part of a multinational force and 200 to remain at an outpost in al-Tanf in southern Syria.
The Kurdish PYD and its powerful military wing YPG/YPJ, considered the most effective fighting force against IS in Syria and U.S. has provided them with arms. The YPG, which is the backbone of the SDF forces, has seized swathes of Syria from Islamic State.
It has launched two previous offenses into Syria against the Kurdish YPG, in 2016 and 2018 respectively.
In 2016, the Turkish troops entered northern Syria in an area some 100 km east of Afrin to stop the Kurdish YPG forces from extending areas under their control and connecting Syrian Kurdistan’s Kobani and Hasaka in the east with Afrin canton in the west.
In January 2018, Turkish military forces backed pro-Ankara Syrian mercenary fighters to clear the YPG from its northwestern enclave of Afrin. In March 2018, the operation was completed with the capture of the Kurdish city of Afrin.
The flags of Turkey and Syrian rebel groups were raised in the Kurdish Afrin city and a statue of Kurdish hero Kawa, a symbol of resistance against oppressors, was torn down.
Residents of the Kurdish city and Human right groups accuse Turkey and pro-Ankara fighters of kidnappings for ransom, armed robberies and torture.
Ankara is also working with Russia and Iran, allies of the Syrian government, to establish a constitutional committee – a long-awaited step in stalled effort to resolve the country’s civil war.
Asked about the details of a recent phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Cavusoglu said the establishment of the constitutional committee could be announced in the coming days.
Copyright © 2019, respective author or news agency, Ekurd.net | Reuters