Turkey agrees to pause in Syria offensive
While Ankara stops short of calling deal a ‘cease-fire’, Kurds also back it
Turkey agreed on Thursday to a pause in its offensive against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria under a US-brokered agreement that Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces also say they will commit to.
After negotiations with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, US Vice-President Mike Pence announced that Turkey’s military operations will be halted for five days. However, Turkey baulks at calling it a cease-fire.
The deal requires that the Kurds vacate a large tract along the Turkish border, and Pence said the US will help facilitate an “orderly withdrawal” of Kurdish-led troops from what Turkey has termed a “safe zone” on the other side of its border with Syria, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The desired Turkish safe zone goes back 32 kilometers into Syrian territory from a 480 km stretch of the border with Turkey.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu rejected the use of the term “cease-fire”, saying that would be possible only with a legitimate second party. Instead, he suggested it is a “pause” in fighting.
He also made clear that Turkey will not stop at a previously limited zone. He said Turkish control of the Syrian side of the border must extend all the way to the Iraqi border, though the agreement did not define the extent.
Mazloum Abdi, commander of the
Kurdish-led forces, said the Kurdish people “hope that this cease-fire will be successful” and “will do our best to make it successful”.
Sun Degang, a researcher at the Middle East Studies Institute of Shanghai International Studies University, said that rather than a deal that can turn the situation in Syria around, the agreement is more of a compromise in that both the US and Turkey have made concessions.
“The agreement is a compromise US President Donald Trump has made with his opponents in the US in mind, as he is facing strong opposition domestically for his move to withdraw troops from northern Syria,” he said. “Trump needs to press against Turkey, making sure its attack will not evolve into a large-scale war so that he won’t be pressured even harder.”
In addition, the deal gives Turkey relief from sanctions that the Trump administration had imposed and threatened to increase, meaning there will be no penalty incurred by the operation. This would give Erdogan a respite from criticism against his policies at home, Sun said.
Bouthaina Shaaban, an adviser to the Syrian president, said on Thursday that the cease-fire in Syria is
“vague”, creating uncertainties about the prospects for the agreement.
Shaaban said there is nothing that can be called a “safe zone” as it constitutes an occupation of Syrian territory by Turkey. She labeled Erdogan “an occupier of our land”.
“We deal with any illegitimate foreign presence on our country as an occupation,” the Syrian official added.
Sun said that, in the long run, there would be “a multipolar, dynamic equilibrium situation” on the Syrian issue.
“This cease-fire deal ensures that the US can continue to exert its influence in northern Syria and use Kurdish
forces as its proxy,” he said. “While the Kurds can continue to maintain their own ‘neutrality’ as Turkey will not continue to attack them and the US will protect them as before.”
On Oct 9, after the US announced its troop withdrawal from northern Syria, Turkey started its assault against the Syrian Kurds in order to end what Turkey perceives as the threat of “terrorist and separatist” groups on its southern border and to impose a safe zone in the area to host millions of Syrian refugees.