Syrian Kurds fear Turkish offensive as Ankara talks over safe zone continue

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES) has condemned Turkish threats of military operations against them, calling on the international community to challenge Turkey before it harms "international peace and security.” Meanwhile, a senior US military delegation is in Ankara negotiating the demarcation of a safe zone on the Turkish border with Syria.

 

In a Monday statement, the NES that they “denounce these irresponsible threats from the Turkish regime and emphasize that the administration, with all its ethnic and religious components, will stand united in confronting these threats,” reported the NES-affiliated ANHA news agency.

 

“We call upon the international community, in all its bodies and the UN and humanitarian organizations to do their duty to stop the Turkish threats and prevent them from carrying out their aggression against the region,” the statement said.

 

“This aggression will harm international peace and security,” it added.

 

The NES, also known by Kurds as Rojava and sometimes referred to as the Democratic Autonomous Administration (DAA), reiterated that they “support the unity of the Syrian territory, components and peoples and that our political project is a democratic and non-secessionist project.”

 

Turkey considers the People’s Protection Units (YPG) – a Kurdish-majority armed group making up most of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) -  as the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), designated by Ankara as a terrorist organization.

 

In a fresh threat against the YPG, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that Turkish forces will attack the East of Euphrates region under SDF control, having issued preemptive warnings to Russia, the main international backer of Syrian President Assad’s regime, and the United States.

 

“We will now enter east of the Euphrates. We have shared this with Russia and the US, because as long as the harassing fires from there continue, it is impossible for us to remain silent. We can be patient to a certain extent, but our patience has its limits,” Erdogan said during the inauguration ceremony of a hospital in Bursa province.

 

The NES statement comes as a senior US military delegation arrived in Ankara on Monday to agree on the dimensions of a potential buffer zone in the predominantly YPG-controlled northeast of Syria.

 

“Today’s part of negotiations with US military officials on the planned establishment of the safe zone in the north of Syria has been completed. Negotiations will continue tomorrow at Turkish Ministry of National Defence HQ in Ankara,” the ministry said in a tweet.

 

The talks follow up on those held in Ankara two weeks ago, with US Special Envoy to Syria James Jeffrey heading up a US delegation to discuss the same topic.

 

Turkey is determined to go ahead with the establishment of a safe zone, even if it fails to reach an agreement with the US, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday.

 

Though US, Turkish and Kurdish forces in Syria have not agreed on the dimensions of a safe zone, none have rejected the project in principle.

 

Turkey has reportedly suggested a buffer zone 40 kilometers wide and 450 kilometers long, while US officials say its width should be a fraction of that, at up to 15 km.

 

A senior YPG commander has recently said that they may accept a yet slimmer five kilometer-wide buffer zone, with the condition that local YPG forces in Kobane and other areas remain, albeit without heavy weapons.