US special envoy to Syria James Jeffrey arrived in Ankara this week to meet with Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and other top officials.
“Both countries’ military authorities began the joint work today at MSB in Ankara to establish a planned safe zone in northern Syria in a coordinated way,” the Turkish Defense Ministry tweeted on Tuesday.
“The meetings between Turkish and American military authorities will continue in the coming days, as planned,” it added.
Before Jeffrey and his delegation set off for Turkey, the US State Department said the aim of the visit was “to continue discussions with senior Turkish officials to advance issues of mutual interest on Syria to include addressing Turkey’s legitimate security concerns, the implementation of UNSCR 2254 on the resolution of the Syrian conflict, and our continued efforts to ensure an enduring defeat of ISIS”.
Turkey has long criticized the US government’s support for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) – the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which led the ground war against the Islamic State group (ISIS) east of the Euphrates River.
Ankara views the YPG as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed opposition group which has fought for greater political and cultural rights for Kurds in Turkey since the 1980s.
Jeffrey was received by Akar on Monday where they discussed developments in Syria, particularly the establishment of the so-called “safe zone” in the north of the country, the Turkish Defense Ministry said.
According to the read out from their meeting, Akar told the US envoy: “The safe zone to the east of the Euphrates river should be established by Turkey and the United States in a coordinated manner [and] elements of the PKK/YPG terrorist group should be cleared from this area, their entrenchments and fortifications should be destroyed and heavy weapons in their hands should be collected.”
The minister reiterated his country’s sensitivity to US meetings with Kurdish forces in northern Syria.
“Turkey feels irritated by high level military and civilian US authorities’ meetings with leaders of the PKK-YPG terror organization in Syria,” he said.
Turkey has called for a 40 km-deep buffer zone between Kurdish positions and its border which would be cleansed of the SDF. Kurdish authorities reject the idea.
SDF commander Mazlum Abdi said of his discussions with the US officials in an interview with Yeni Özgur Politika newspaper that
In a recent interview with Yeni Özgur Politika, SDF commander Mazlum Abdi said the force would only accept a 5 km-deep buffer zone where local forces in Kobane and other areas would remain, but heavy weapons would be moved.
Besides local forces, the SDF wants a neutral international force to patrol the area. US and Turkish troops began training earlier this year for joint patrols. Abdi said the SDF would only accept Turkish soldiers participating in patrols if Turkey withdraws from Afrin.
Turkey and its Syrian proxies seized the northwestern district of Afrin from the YPG in early 2018.
“If this happens, as a gesture of goodwill, Turkish soldiers could be part of the patrols,” Abdi said.
As Jeffrey was meeting with Turkish military officials, Kenneth F. McKenzie, commander of United States Central Command (CENTCOM), was meeting with SDF commanders.
He told local media Turkey has “legitimate national security concerns about activities in the north of Syria”.
The US wants “to balance those legitimate security concerns with our anti-ISIS campaign here in Syria”, McKenzie said.
“We’ve got diplomatic efforts undergoing – as we speak – in order to find a resolution to that problem that will satisfy Turkey’s legitimate security concerns as well as those activities that are important for counter-ISIS campaign here in Syria,” he added, according to NPA.
