A joint Turkish-U.S. operation center to establish and manage a safe zone in northeast Syria is fully operational, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told the Anadolu news agency. The safe zone is really a stop zone. To stop Syrian immigration to Turkey.
Turkey and the United States agreed to set up the joint operations center, which covers Syria’s northeastern border. However, neither country gave any details about the zone. What is the real purpose? The size of the zone, or the command structure of the forces that would operate it. The safe zone is really a stop zone while the Assad forces attack Idlib routinely.
Turkey has been suffering from the malaise of too many Syrian refugees. Its population, in Istanbul and elsewhere, has been demanding their repatriation. Whether Putin meddled in Turkey’s internal affairs to accelerate Turkish anger remains a mystery.
The Guardian wrote about the subject with some details:
Syrians living in Istanbul and Beirut have been targeted by immigration authorities in recent weeks, with more than 1,000 detained in Turkey’s biggest city last weekend and given 30 days to leave … The scale and speed of the arrests mark a reversal of Turkey’s open-door policy towards Syrian refugees – a hallmark of the war’s early years during which up to 5 million people crossed the Turkish border.
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Commander Sean Robertson, a Pentagon spokesman told Reuters that a U.S. and a Turkish general flew the first joint reconnaissance mission over northeast Syria. Robertson provided no names.
Robertson said:
[the safe zone] demonstrates commitment to address Turkey’s legitimate security concerns on their southern border.
This is code for “Turkey is concerned about more Syrian emigrants flocking its borders. The safe zone intends to stop them”.
Washington and Ankara have been at odds over plans for northeastern Syria over the the Kurdish YPG militia. The YPG, with U.S. help, defeated ISIS. Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist group.
Reuters contributed to this article.
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