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Kurdish Official: Syria's 'Safe Zone' Off to Good Start

Associated Press

   DARBASIYAH, SYRIA - The creation of a so-called "safe zone" in
   northeastern Syria has gotten off to good start, with U.S.-backed
   Kurdish-led forces pulling back from a small, initial area along the
   Turkish border, a Syrian Kurdish official said-- but calm can only
   prevail if Turkey also removes its troops.

   Ilham Ahmed, co-chair of the executive committee of the U.S-backed
   Syrian Democratic Council, said the understanding reached between
   Washington and Ankara last month, and in coordination with the Syrian
   Kurdish-led forces, constitutes a step toward starting a dialogue over
   mutual security concerns.
   "We seek to find a way to dialogue, and starting to implement this plan
   expresses our readiness and seriousness," Ahmed said in an interview
   Tuesday with The Associated Press.
   "We want to tell the world and the coalition that we are ready to take
   serious steps to get to dialogue," she added.
   Turkey views the U.S-backed Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG,
   in Syria as an extension of a Kurdish insurgency within Turkey.
   Ankara has already carried out military offensives inside Syria to push
   the group away from the western end of the border. Over the last weeks,
   Turkish officials threatened a similar offensive in northeastern Syria,
   where troops from the U.S.-led coalition are deployed to help the
   Syrian Kurdish-led forces in combatting remnants of the Islamic State
   group.
   The Syrian Kurds have been America's only partners on the ground in
   Syria's chaotic civil war. With U.S. backing, they proved to be the
   most effective fighting force against the Islamic State group and
   announced its territorial defeat earlier this year. The Kurds now worry
   about being abandoned by the U.S. amid Turkish threats to invade Syria,
   and are keen to work out an agreement with both parties that would
   safeguard their gains.
   Ankara and Washington announced last month that they would begin
   measures to implement a border ``safe zone'' to address Turkish
   security concerns. The Kurdish-led forces are expected to pull out of
   the zone, but details must still be worked out _ including who then
   would patrol and administer it.

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