Click to see full-size image, by the Ministry of Defense of Turkey
Turkey and U.S. have concluded their talks on northeastern Syria with an agreement to establish a “peace corridor” in the Kurdish-held region, the two countries announced in a joint statement on August 7.
The statement reads:
“At the end of the talks the delegations have agreed on the following:
- the rapid implementation of initial measures to address Turkey’s security concerns;
- to set up as soon as possible a joint operations center in Turkey to coordinate and manage the establishment of the safe zone together;
- that the safe zone shall become a peace corridor, and that any additional measures shall be taken for our displaced Syrian brothers to return to their country.”
The Turkish Anadolu Agency claimed that the joint “peace corridor” will be 30 to 40 kilometers deep in northeastern Syria.
As for the steps which will be taken to ensure Turkey’s security, the state-run agency said that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the People’s Protection Units (YPG) will be moved out of the “peace corridor” and forced to surrender their heavy weapons.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which controls most of the region, have not commented on the new Turkish-U.S. agreement, so far.
Last year, the U.S. and Turkey reached a very similar agreement on the key city of Manbij in northern Aleppo. However, most of the agreement’s terms were never fulfilled by Washington and its allies. This could be the case with the “peace corridor” agreement.
