Pentagon chief: Turkish incursions into northern Syria ‘unacceptable’

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Any unilateral Turkish incursion into Kurdish-controlled northern Syria would be unacceptable, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters on Tuesday, as talks between Turkey and US over a proposed safe zone continue in Ankara.

While a Department of Defense team and a Turkish Defense Ministry team are engaged in discussions concerning Turkish demands for a safe zone, US Secretary of Defense has warned against Turkish military action amid threats by Turkey’s President.

“Clearly we believe any unilateral action by them (Turkey) would be unacceptable,” Esper told reporters travelling with him to Japan, according to Reuters.

The US would “prevent” Turkey’s “unilateral incursions” into northern Syrian, Esper added.

On Tuesday, negotiations between Turkey’s National Defense Ministry and a US Department of Defense team continued on the issue of the safe zone for a second day, according to a tweet from the Turkish National Defense Ministry.

The talks follow threats by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday that his country will soon invade northern Syria.

“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 of a hospital in Bursa province.

Following his comments, the US Department of Defense quickly dispatched a team to Ankara to try and prevent a Turkish invasion.

Northern Syria is dominated by People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish armed group backed by the United States. Turkey considers the YPG to be the Syrian branch of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish armed group fighting for greater cultural and political rights for Kurds in Turkey.

The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey.

The US has backed the YPG since 2014 in the ground war against the Islamic State group (ISIS). The partnership developed with the creation of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a multi-ethnic group of Kurds, Arabs, and Assyrians established to retake Syrian territory.

Turkey has demanded a 20-30 kilometer-deep safe zone along its border with Syria that covers all of the major Kurdish urban centers in the north of the country. The US has instead proposed a safe zone with a depth of 5-14 kilometers.

While the meeting was taking place, President Erdogan renewed his threats at a gathering of Turkish ambassadors on Tuesday, asserting that Turkey will not hesitate to defend its “national security”.

“Turkey expects the US, its NATO ally and strategic partner, to take steps worthy of a true ally,” said Erdogan. https://twitter.com/anadoluagency/status/1158681348640530432

“Turkey cannot feel safe as long as the ‘YPG/PKK’ organization, which grows like cancerous cells on our southern border through heavy weapons given to it by our allies, are not destroyed,” Erdogan added.

Turkey wants to resettle the millions of Syrian refugees east of the Euphrates in areas cleared of Kurdish armed groups, Erdogan said, claiming this would alleviate migration pressure on Europe and Turkey.

The Kurds of norther Syria say they support US efforts to prevent a war and have said they are open to compromise.

“We could only accept a Turkish presence in our area in the framework of an international force, in a way that won’t be a threat to the Kurdish people,” Mazloum Kobani, commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), told Voice of America’s Kurdish service on Monday.

Aldar Khalil, head of the Relations Department of TEV-DEM, the ruling Kurdish coalition of Rojava, told Rudaw they have reached out to the Syrian regime in Damascus to help prevent a Turkish onslaught.

“Because the region is faced with danger, not only against itself, but against the unity of Syria, we tried to reach out to the regime through the Russians to reach an agreement through which we could protect this region,” Khalil told Rudaw on Tuesday.

“We have not seen a positive response so far, but we will never stop political or diplomatic efforts to prevent war and occupation,” Khalil added, asserting that any solution in Syria needs to be between Syrians.

How far the US is willing to go to protect its SDF allies should Turkey invade is not yet clear. Analysts have suggested Turkey could go ahead with the operation to establish facts on the ground in order to exact more concessions from the United States.

Pentagon chief: Turkish incursions into northern Syria ‘unacceptable’

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