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Turkish-Controlled "Safe Zone" in Northern Syria May Create More Problems than It Solves

(National Interest) Gonul Tol and Gen. Joseph Votel - Turkey and the U.S. have agreed to establish a joint operations center to coordinate efforts to carve out a safe zone stretching more than 250 miles along Syria's northeastern border with Turkey. Much of the region is controlled by the Syrian Kurdish militia that played a key role in the U.S.-led fight against ISIS. Turkey has long pushed for a twenty-mile-deep zone that it alone would control. Safe zones are usually designed to be neutral, demilitarized, and focused on humanitarian purposes. Imposing a twenty-mile-deep safe zone east of the Euphrates would have the opposite effect - likely displacing more than 90% of the Syrian Kurdish population and creating an environment for increased conflict. It would also thwart efforts to prevent the resurgence of ISIS and enable Iran to use the area to propagate its sectarian activities. There is no evidence to suggest the area is being used as a platform to attack Turkey. Gonul Tol is the founding director of the Middle East Institute's Center for Turkish Studies. Gen. Joseph Votel served as commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) from March 2016 to March 2019.
2019-08-15 00:00:00
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