ISTANBUL, Turkey, Aug 8 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkey and the US have agreed to establish a joint operation centre, to manage tensions between a US-backed Kurdish militia and Turkish forces in northern Syria.
The announcement came, after three days of tense negotiations with US officials, hoping to forestall a Turkish attack on the Kurdish YPG group, which controls large swathes of northern Syria.
Turkey sees the YPG as a terrorist offshoot of the Kurdish PKK, which has fought a bloody insurgency inside its territory for the past 35 years.
The defence ministry, said that, Ankara had agreed with US officials to “implement without delay, the first measures aimed at eliminating Turkey’s concerns.”
“In that framework, to quickly create in Turkey, a joint operation centre, to coordinate and manage the implementation of the safe zone with the US.”
Ankara has stepped up threats in recent days, to launch an offensive against the YPG.
That put the United States in a difficult position as a NATO ally of Turkey, but also a supporter of the YPG, as its main front-line partner against the Daesh group.
All sides agree that a buffer zone is needed, to keep the YPG away from Turkey’s borders, but they have differed on how large it should be, or who should control it.
The defence ministry said, Turkey’s ultimate aim was to create a “peace corridor” that can “ensure that our Syrian brothers will be able to return to their country.”
Turkey has the highest number of Syrian refugees in the world, at more than 3.6 million, and has faced increasing pressure domestically, to speed up repatriations to peaceful parts of the country.
Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, warned that, patience was running out with the Americans to find a solution in northern Syria.
“Turkey has the right to eliminate all threats against its national security,” he said in a televised speech.
US Defence Secretary, Mark Esper, countered that, any unilateral action by Turkey would be “unacceptable.”
But by the third day of talks, his Turkish counterpart, Defence Minister Hulusi Akar, said there were positive signs.
Turkey has twice carried out unilateral offensives into northern Syria, against the Daesh group and YPG, in 2016 and 2018, respectively.– NNN-ANADOLU
