Renewed arm wrestling is underway in the wake of the US-Turkish accord on creating a safe zone in northern Syria. The sides failed to define the specifics of the zone, even though the deal averted a unilateral Turkish incursion into Kurdish-held areas to the east of the Euphrates River.
The three points announced as part of the accord — reached Aug. 7 in Ankara with indirect Kurdish participation — call for measures to address Turkey’s security concerns and the creation of a joint operations center in Turkey to coordinate the establishment of a safe zone, which would then become a “peace corridor.” The joint operation center is the only concrete action specified in the deal, and an American team has already arrived in the border province of Sanliurfa for that purpose.
