Turkey and Syria’s Safe Zone, Erdogan echoes empty threats

Moaath Mohamed

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan does not leave an occasion without touching on his country’s intention to create a so-called “safe zone” in northern Syria, and threatens to implement what he called “special plans” if the United States does not cooperate with him to create the zone.

Talks between Washington and Ankara on Aug. 7 resulted an agreement to establish a “safe zone” between the Turkish border and the Syrian areas east of the Euphrates river controlled by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

“We have not achieved any of the results we desired in the east of the Euphrates. Turkey cannot lose even a single day on this issue. There is no other choice but to act on our own,” Erdogan said at the parliament’s opening ceremony in Ankara.

“We plan to settle two million people in the safe zones we will establish. We calculated the costs and we will carry out efforts to improve. We will start taking steps as soon as the region is saved from the invasion of terror,” he said.

Under the Turkish plan, up to two million Syrian refugees would be settled in the area that would be cleared of the Syrian Kurdish militia People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara deems “a terrorist organisation”.

Since agreeing to set up the zone in northern Syria, Turkey has repeatedly warned of unilateral military action if efforts do not meet its expectations, saying it would not tolerate any attempts by the US to stall the process.

Erdogan had given a deadline of the end of September for the 30-kilometer-deep (19-mile-deep) zone to be established, warning that if it were not kept, Turkey would be forced to take military action for its own security.

Turkey has accused the US of being too slow in setting up the zone, amid differences between the two NATO partners about how far it should reach into Syria and who should control it.

Erdogan has always justified in all interviews and talks the establishment of the “safe zone”, that he wants to establish for the benefit of Syrian refugees in his country and Europe, but in fact he seeks to establish it because of his fear of Kurdish fighters.

Turkish affairs specialist Mohamed Hamed expected that Erdogan only has threats regarding the Safe Zone as he only seeks to eliminate the Kurds through it.

In an interview with The Reference, Hamed said Erdogan will not be able to do anything in northern Syria by himself, especially that the Kurds are being supported by the United States and it will not easily abandon them.