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Turkey, US Progress on Joint 'Safe Zone' in Northern Syria

VOA News

   [1]Turkey and the United States appeared to be inching closer Wednesday
   to establishing a purported safe zone in Syria, administered by a
   planned joint operations center. The area would be a "peace corridor,"
   the countries wrote in joint statements, aimed at helping "our
   displaced Syrian brothers to return to their country."

     Statement on Joint Military Talks Regarding Syria:
     [2]https://t.co/wN6hUTgYdc [3]pic.twitter.com/7Ce4WUVomI
     -- US Embassy Turkey (@USEmbassyTurkey) [4]August 7, 2019

   The announcement came after three days of talks in the Turkish capital
   of Ankara and after months of stalemate, stemming from disagreements
   over the zone's size and manager.

   The U.S. had proposed a two-tier zone 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) deep,
   less than half the size Turkey had wanted. Turkey had also requested
   ultimate authority over the area, control that the U.S. would be
   unlikely to grant.

   Wednesday's announcement did not address these two points of
   disagreement, but it did appear to head off a new influx of Turkish
   troops into northeastern Syria. Turkey wants to clear the area of
   Syrian Kurds, whom it considers terrorists connected to a rebellious
   Kurdish movement in Turkey.

   Syrian Kurds make up the majority of the Syrian Democratic Forces,
   which the U.S. has partnered with in the fight against the Islamic
   State terror group. Disagreement over the role of Syrian Kurds is
   straining the U.S.-Turkey partnership, with Turkey asking the U.S. to
   cut its ties to the Syrian Kurds.

References

   1. https://www.msb.gov.tr/en-US/Slide/782019-80577
   2. https://t.co/wN6hUTgYdc
   3. https://t.co/7Ce4WUVomI
   4. https://twitter.com/USEmbassyTurkey/status/1159101377764843520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

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