Turkey’s military action in Syria

4 m.   |  2019-10-14

P reviously President Trump had touched upon US withdrawal from Syria , however no serious practical steps were taken. Also according to some unofficial data, the USA withdrew only part of its troops and weapons from Syria [5].

The agreement was reached between Washington and Ankara on the Turkish-Syrian border on creating a safe zone on the East of the Euphrates River. However both sides had not in detail of who is in charge of the control of the zone. According to the American side, security zone should be jointly controlled, whereas Turkey seeks to establish an autonomous control.

On October 1, Erdogan announced his plans to act independently on establishing a safe zone. Later, on October 5 he talked about preparing military operation against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in the north-eastern Syria. According to Turkish Foreign Minister M. Chavushoglu, the US supplies weapons to Kurds in Syria, while Turkey fights against them and other against terrorist groups [6].    

The Turkish Armed Forces, together with the Syrian National Army, just launched #OperationPeaceSpring against PKK/YPG and Daesh terrorists in northern Syria. Our mission is to prevent the creation of a terror corridor across our southern border, and to bring peace to the area.

Although international community reacted quickly to Ankara’s military actions in Syria, they didn’t really take steps other than condemnation. European Commission’s President Jean-Claude Juncker made a statement on the cessation of hostilities [7]. President Trump called the actions a “bad idea” [8].

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that it’s necessary to immediately calm the situation in Syria, emphasizing the importance of respecting the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity [9].

On October 9, V. Putin had a telephone conversation with Erdogan on Turkey’s initiative, during which the president of Russia called on its Turkish partner to assess the situation in detail so as not to harm joint efforts of resolving the Syrian crisis [10].

On October 8, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said that the entry of Turkish troops may cause material and humanitarian damages, and the actions against the sovereignty and security of Syria will not bring any benefit to Turkey[11]. On October 10, the Iranian Foreign Ministry demanded the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Syria and a need for an immediate cessation [12].

The Armenian Foreign Ministry also made a condemning statement: “Armenia calls for effective international efforts to stop this military invasion, prevent mass atrocities and protect the population of Syria bordering Turkey. Armenia supports the unity and sovereignty of Syria and calls for refraining from military encroachments against Syria and its people. Armenia will continue to provide humanitarian aid to the friendly Syrian people on a local level”. [13]

The international players have provided a green light for military operations in Syria, it seems that there is a breakthrough in Washington-Ankara negotiations [14],[15].Also it was no coincidence in Trump’s statement on the US withdrawal of its troops from Syria that the green light was given by noting that the Kurds didn’t fight alongside the US in the second world war [16].

It should be noted, that the Armenian-populated areas such as Kamishli, Ras Al-Ain, Tel Abyad and Derik are in the focus of Turkish military operations. Armen Melkonyan, Head of the MFA Department for Middle East and Africa, said that at least 13 Armenian families  from Tel Abyad and several Armenians from Ras Al-Ain moved to safer areas, whereas there were some who refused to move [17].

[1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria

[2] https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/07

[3] https://twitter.com/RTErdogan/status/

[4] https://edition.cnn.com/middleeast/

[5] http://newsru.co.il/mideast/11oct2019/cha_603.html

[6] http://newsru.co.il/mideast/11oct2019/cha_603.html

[7] https://www.euronews.com/2019/10/09/turkey

[8] https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/donald

[9] http://newsru.co.il/mideast/10oct

[10] http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/61755

[11] https://ria.ru/20191008/1559533825.html

[12] https://ria.ru/20191010/1559617572.html

[13] https://www.mfa.am/hy/interviews-articles

[14] https://nationalinterest.org/blog/middle

[15] https://www.dailysabah.com/defense

[16] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news

[17] https://www.tert.am/am/news/

 

Turkey Iran Syria