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AFP
Beirut
Since the start of the Syrian conflict, Turkey has pushed for the creation of a buffer zone on its border to protect refugees and prevent the emergence of an autonomous Kurdish region.
The “safe zone” or “security zone” would be on the Syrian side of the 900-kilometre (560-mile) Syria-Turkey frontier.
After receiving backing from US President Donald Trump, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said this week that Turkey would go ahead with the plan, prompting angry reactions from both the Kurds and Damascus. In November 2011, just months into Syria’s devastating conflict, Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said a buffer zone could be imposed on the border, with international backing, in case of a massive outflow of refugees.
The idea had already been proposed in the Turkish media as a means to protect civilians from a harsh crackdown by forces backing President Bashar al-Assad.
The Syrian National Council, the main opposition coalition, had also mooted a no-fly zone or secure area to protect civilians. In July 2012, the Syrian army withdrew from certain parts of the country’s north where Kurdish militants were deployed. Erdogan accused Damascus of “allotting five provinces to the Kurds”, posing a threat to Turkey, and threatened to respond by creating a border security zone.
Turkey sees Syria’s main Kurdish force, the People’s Protection Units (YPG) as a “terrorist” offshoot of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) which has for decades waged a deadly insurgency in Turkey. But the YPG has been a key US ally in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group, leading a coalition that ousted the jihadists from key parts of northern Syria including Manbij, Raqa and the border town of Kobane.
In August 2012 Davutoglu urged the UN Security Council to set up civilian safe havens inside Syria, saying Ankara was struggling to cope with the thousands of people crossing into Turkey each day.
“The UN should initiate the establishment of IDP (internally displaced people) camps within Syria without delay. Needless to say these camps should have full protection,” Davutoglu said.
Beirut
Since the start of the Syrian conflict, Turkey has pushed for the creation of a buffer zone on its border to protect refugees and prevent the emergence of an autonomous Kurdish region.
The “safe zone” or “security zone” would be on the Syrian side of the 900-kilometre (560-mile) Syria-Turkey frontier.
After receiving backing from US President Donald Trump, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said this week that Turkey would go ahead with the plan, prompting angry reactions from both the Kurds and Damascus. In November 2011, just months into Syria’s devastating conflict, Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said a buffer zone could be imposed on the border, with international backing, in case of a massive outflow of refugees.
The idea had already been proposed in the Turkish media as a means to protect civilians from a harsh crackdown by forces backing President Bashar al-Assad.
The Syrian National Council, the main opposition coalition, had also mooted a no-fly zone or secure area to protect civilians. In July 2012, the Syrian army withdrew from certain parts of the country’s north where Kurdish militants were deployed. Erdogan accused Damascus of “allotting five provinces to the Kurds”, posing a threat to Turkey, and threatened to respond by creating a border security zone.
Turkey sees Syria’s main Kurdish force, the People’s Protection Units (YPG) as a “terrorist” offshoot of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) which has for decades waged a deadly insurgency in Turkey. But the YPG has been a key US ally in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group, leading a coalition that ousted the jihadists from key parts of northern Syria including Manbij, Raqa and the border town of Kobane.
In August 2012 Davutoglu urged the UN Security Council to set up civilian safe havens inside Syria, saying Ankara was struggling to cope with the thousands of people crossing into Turkey each day.
“The UN should initiate the establishment of IDP (internally displaced people) camps within Syria without delay. Needless to say these camps should have full protection,” Davutoglu said.
