The US administration’s top Syria envoy, James Jeffrey, who is trying to broker a deal between Turkey and Syrian Kurdish groups for a proposed safe zone in northeast Syria, recognizes the irreconcilable positions of the two parties, and is trying to buy some time through continuing the talks, a source in Washington close to the envoy told Al-Monitor.
Turkey’s fateful Istanbul election rerun is fast approaching. For Turkey, it is more than just an election in Istanbul, as the vote could determine whether the Recep Tayyip Erdogan era in Turkish political history expires or not.