Istanbul (AFP) – Turkey welcomed the planned withdrawal of some 2,000 US troops from Syria but the future of US-backed Kurdish militia forces there labelled terrorists by Ankara has poisoned US-Turkish ties

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that Ankara would set up a “security zone” in northern Syria suggested by US President Donald Trump.

Erdogan’s comments came a day after he had a telephone conversation with Trump to ease tensions after the US leader threatened to “devastate” the Turkish economy if Ankara attacks Kurdish forces in Syria.

Turkey has welcomed Washington’s planned withdrawal of some 2,000 US troops from Syria but the future of US-backed Kurdish militia forces labelled terrorists by Ankara has poisoned ties between the NATO allies.

Turkey welcomed the planned withdrawal of some 2,000 US troops from Syria but the future of US-backed Kurdish militia forces there labelled terrorists by Ankara has poisoned US-Turkish ties (AFP Photo/Delil SOULEIMAN).

Erdogan said he had a “quite positive” telephone conversation with Trump late on Monday where he reaffirmed that “a 20-mile (30 kilometre) security zone along the Syrian border… will be set up by us.”

Damascus meanwhile denounced Erdogan’s “language of occupation” in talking about a security zone.

“The statements made today by the Turkish president reaffirm that this regime… does not deal (with anyone) except in the language of occupation and aggression,” state news agency SANA quoted a source at the Syrian foreign ministry as saying.

The Turkish army has launched two major operations in Syria dubbed “Euphrates Shield” in 2016 and “Olive Branch” in 2018 to combat Syrian Kurdish fighters as well as Islamic State jihadists.

But the last offensive sought to roll back gains by Syrian Kurdish fighters who have governed parts of northern Syria since 2012.

The deployment of Turkish troops and their proxy forces in areas of northwest Syria has drawn accusations by some critics of a Turkish military occupation.

“Comparing Turkey’s presence in Syria with that of any other state or power is an insult to both history and our civilisation,” Erdogan said.

– Turkey ‘to control zone’ –

Turkey is home to over three million Syrian refugees. Since early in the conflict, Ankara has called for a safe area backed up by a no-fly zone on its 900 kilometre (560 mile) border with Syria to protect civilians from air and ground attacks.

But support for the proposal has waned.

Territory control in Syria, as of December 21

The plan was mooted to Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama, so that a safe structure could be provided for Syrian refugees on the condition that Washington provides logistics and air support, while Ankara supplies ground security, Erdogan said.

“Unfortunately Obama failed to take the necessary steps,” he said, speaking to journalists after his parliamentary address.

But after the discussion with Trump, Erdogan said that plan could be resurrected and the 20-mile “security zone” could be extended, if needed.

It could be created in cooperation with the US-backed international coalition fighting against IS, which Turkey is also a member of.

“We could create such a safe zone if coalition forces especially America provide logistical and financial support,” Erdogan said.

“That would also entirely prevent an influx (of refugees).”

The Turkish leader however dismissed any presence of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia in that zone.

Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said the security zone would “be controlled by Turkey, with the deployment of Turkish military, intelligence activity and the involvement of the locals.”

He said its modalities were being discussed with Washington, adding the Turkish army chief General Yasar Guler was due to meet Wednesday with his US counterpart in Brussels.

– ‘Trump’s tweets saddened me’ –

US support for the YPG during the Syria conflict has been a major source of friction between Ankara and Washington. The US regards the YPG as an effective ground force in the fight against IS jihadists.

Ankara has however threatened to launch a cross-border operation to eradicate Syrian Kurdish fighters it sees as an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The PKK, which has carried out a decades-long insurgency against Turkish forces, is blacklisted by Turkey as well as by the United States.

But there have been concerns in Washington that Kurdish groups are being abandoned to attacks in the future by the far more powerful Turkish military.

Erdogan on Tuesday said Trump’s tweet “saddened me and my friends”, but added that the two leaders reached an agreement “of historic importance” during Monday’s phone call.

The Turkish president said he would visit Russia on January 23 for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin over the US troop pullout plan.

© Agence France-Presse

Featured Photo: “US support for the YPG during the Syria conflict has been a major source of friction between the NATO allies. The US regards the YPG as an effective ground force in the fight against IS jihadists (AFP Photo/Delil SOULEIMAN).

Foreign policy will be immediately on the agenda after Erdogan’s inauguration Monday, as the president heads this week to a NATO summit in Brussels where talks are expected with leaders including US President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Here are the five foreign policy issues Erdogan will need to address during his new tenure:

– Relations with the US –

Turkey and the United States have been at loggerheads over a number of issues, from American support for a Syrian Kurdish militia despised by Ankara to Washington’s failure to extradite Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, accused by Ankara of ordering a failed 2016 coup.

“The new Erdogan administration will carry on these negotiations with the hope of fixing the relationship with the US,” said Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, Ankara office director of the German Marshall Fund of the US.

One of the stumbling blocks is US backing for the Syrian People’s Protection Units (YPG), deemed “terrorists” by Ankara and linked to the outlawed PKK militants who have waged a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.

However analysts say Washington has been willing to make concessions despite the tensions, as shown by the US delivering its first shipments of F-35 stealth fighter jets to Turkey last month.

– Russia –

Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have forged an increasingly strong alliance based on seeking peace in Syria after patching up relations poisoned by Turkey’s downing of a Russian war plane in 2015.

Washington has been particularly concerned by Ankara’s decision to buy Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile batteries, which are not compatible with NATO’s defence systems.

Putin, a frequent guest of Erdogan in Turkey, swiftly congratulated the Turkish strongman on his re-election, saying that the result showed his “great political authority”.

Gareth Jenkins, Istanbul-based non-resident senior research fellow at the Silk Road Studies Program, said “ultimately Erdogan is going to have to choose between the US and Russia –- and he will pay a price whichever he chooses.”

– Syria –

Since the Syrian war erupted in 2011, Turkey has been a fervent opponent of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and ruled out any form of direct dialogue with Damascus.

But with Turkey already hosting 3.5 million Syrian refugees, Ankara has focused more on border security and helping those displaced go home.

Aaron Stein, resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said Turkey has already found a “formula” with the Assad regime.

“It works through Russia to achieve its interests -— and those interests don’t include regime change,” he told AFP.

– Relations with the EU –

Ties between Turkey and the European Union have been particularly strained since the crackdown that followed the attempted overthrow of Erdogan in July 2016, with EU member states calling on Ankara to lift the state of emergency.

However veteran Turkish diplomat Ozdem Sanberk said he believed an era of compromise would start and “relations will reach a more healthy ground than before”.

Turkey and the EU agreed to a deal in 2016 to curb the influx of migrants into Europe which has been criticised by rights groups, but has helped slow down arrivals.

Erdogan, who raised eyebrows in the West when he threatened to send millions of migrants to Europe, was sidelined from the agreement but so far it has remained in place.

– Global ambitions –

Over the past few years Erdogan has pressed what Ankara calls a multi-vector foreign policy and championed the Palestinian cause and those of Muslim minorities around the world.

He has hosted Muslim leaders several times, including earlier this year for a summit aimed at coordinating a united Islamic response to the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The countries who rapidly congratulated Erdogan on his re-election were symbolic of Ankara’s foreign policy stance, with leaders such as Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir, who have pariah status in the West, among the first to hail his win.

But analyst Jenkins warned that Erdogan would make errors unless he “begins to employ people who both understand foreign policy and are willing to tell him the truth rather than what they think he wants to hear.”

Featured Photo: TURKISH PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE/AFP / KAYHAN OZER. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan faces a number of foreign policy entanglements as he begins his second term.