ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Pentagon officials said Tuesday the ‘safe zone’ agreed by the US and Turkey along the northern Syria border will address Turkey’s “legitimate” security concerns while also helping to prevent an Islamic State (ISIS) resurgence in the area.
The move will prevent conflict between Turkey and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and allow America and its allies to focus instead on tackling jihadist remnants, it said.
“Military-to-military talks in Ankara last week reached an initial understanding on a security mechanism along the Syrian border with Turkey that addresses Turkish security concerns,” Pentagon officials told Rudaw in an email response.
Washington and Ankara have both remained tightlipped on the exact terms of the safe zone – how deep into Syrian territory it will reach, how far it will stretch along the border, what forces will patrol it, or how long it will be in place for.
Kurdish authorities in northern Syria fear a repeat of the Turkish invasion of Afrin, where Turkish-backed Syrian proxies cleansed the area of its Kurdish population and looted their homes and businesses.
Framing the deal in the wider context of America’s anti-ISIS mission in Syria, the safe zone “maintains security northeastern so ISIS cannot reemerge, and allows the Coalition and our partners to remain focused on achieving the enduring defeat of ISIS,” the US Department of Defense (DoD) said.
Despite major territorial setbacks, the DoD’s internal watchdog warned last week that ISIS is now “resurging” in both Syria and Iraq, exploiting gaps between different armed forces.
After several rounds of negotiations, Turkey and the US agreed to establish a joint operation center in northern Syria on Wednesday.
The two parties also agreed to establish a “peace corridor” where Turkey hopes to resettle some of the millions of Syrian refugees who fled to Turkey to escape Syria’s protracted civil war.
“We take Turkey’s legitimate security concerns seriously and are committed to working with Turkey as a NATO ally and partner in Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS,” the Pentagon told Rudaw.
The Turkish government considers the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which makes up the backbone of the SDF, a terrorist offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The PKK has fought a decades-long war with the Turkish state for greater recognition of Kurdish political and cultural rights in Turkey.
America’s relationship with the SDF, which led the ground war against ISIS in northeast Syria, has long irked Ankara.
Turkey has repeatedly threatened to launch a fresh operation against the YPG in northern Syria. In early 2018, Operation Olive Branch forced the YPG back from the Turkish border and displaced tens of thousands of ethnic Kurds from Afrin.
Kurdish leaders in Syria fear the safe zone agreement will not prevent Turkish incursions into SDF-controlled areas and beyond. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued fresh military threats against the SDF over the weekend.
“We’ll move the process which we started with the Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations forward to a different phase very soon,” Erdogan told an audience in Ankara last week.
US-Turkey talks are taking place at a time when bilateral relations are at rock bottom. Turkey’s decision to purchase the Russian S-400 missile defense system threatens to shatter the transatlantic relationship.
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