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Turkey Readies for Action as US Talks on Syria Safe Zone Struggle

Reuters

   ANKARA - Deep differences between Turkey and the United States over the
   scope and command of a planned "safe zone" in northeast Syria raise the
   prospect of Turkish military action unless the two countries break
   months of deadlock in talks this week.

   Turkey has twice sent troops into northern Syria in the last three
   years and President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday a third incursion was
   imminent, targeting Kurdish-controlled territory east of the Euphrates
   river.

   Ankara views the Kurdish YPG militia, which plays a leading role in the
   Syrian Democratic Forces that hold sway over hundreds of miles (km) of
   Syria's northeast border region, as terrorists who pose a grave
   security threat to Turkey, saying they must be driven back from
   frontier areas.

   Washington, which armed and backed them in the fight against Islamic
   State in Syria, wants to protect its military partners and has resisted
   Turkey's demands for full control of a long strip of land that would
   extend 32 km (20 miles) into Syria.

   Military delegations from both countries are meeting in Ankara this
   week, the latest attempt in months of talks on setting up the safe zone
   which they agreed to form as President Donald Trump's administration
   reduces troop numbers in Syria.
   

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