Ankara, Washington agree on ‘joint operation center’ for north Syria

ISTANBUL — Turkish and US officials reached an agreement on Wednesday to establish a “joint operations center” for northern Syria aimed at creating a safe zone to manage tensions between Turkey and a US-backed Kurdish militia.

Coming after three days of tense negotiations, the agreement contained no details on the size and nature of the safe zone, but appeared to provide some breathing room after Turkey had threatened an imminent attack on the Kurdish YPG group which controls large swaths of northern Syria.

Turkey sees the YPG as a terrorist offshoot of the Kurdish PKK, which has fought a bloody insurgency inside its borders for the past 35 years.

The US, however, supports the militia as the main fighting force against the Islamic State group in Syria.

The Turkish Defense Ministry said in a statement 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 center to coordinate and manage the implementation of the safe zone with the US.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the talks had gone in “a positive direction”.

He refused to give a date on when the center would be established nor provide details about the safe zone.

But he said the agreement showed Turkey’s resolve to intervene “east of the Euphrates” was “now being done with the Americans”.

‘Peace corridor’

The three-point agreement described the planned safe zone as 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.

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 talks come at a delicate moment between Turkey and the US, who have grown increasingly estranged over a number of issues, including US support for the Kurds and Turkey’s decision to buy a Russian S-400 missile defense system.

Erdogan warned in recent days that patience was running out with the US 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 on Tuesday.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper countered that any unilateral action by Turkey would be “unacceptable”.

But by the third day of talks, his Turkish counterpart, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, said there were positive signs.

“We witnessed with satisfaction that our partners grew closer to our position. We would prefer to act together with our American ally. If that isn’t possible, we have said multiple times that we will do what is necessary,” he told the state-run Anadolu news agency.

Turkish media outlets have often shown images in recent weeks of military convoys heading for the border area, carrying equipment and fighting units.