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Pence and Erdogan agree to 120-hour ceasefire in Syria

  • October 17, 2019

US Vice President Mike Pence and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to a ceasefire in the military incursion into northeastern Syria. Pence was accompanied in Ankara by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien.

“Today the United States and Turkey have agreed to a ceasefire in Syria,” Pence said.

The initial ceasefire will last 120 hours to allow Kurdish forces to move away from Turkey’s border and allow for negotiations toward a permanent end to the conflict.

Scheduled for just 10 minutes, the meeting between Pence and Erdogan lasted about an hour and a half. Pompeo and other officials were to hold talks with their Turkish counterparts. Erdogan initially refused to meet the US delegation, saying he would only speak to President Donald Trump, before backtracking.

Turkey launched its long-threatened military operation in northeastern Syria last week, targeting a US-backed Kurdish-led militia alliance after the United States withdrew from the border. 

Read more: Why Turkey wants a military assault on Syrian Kurds

Ankara views the Kurdish YPG, the main component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as a terrorist group linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought a nearly four-decade war for Kurdish rights against the Turkish state.

Erdogan said he wanted to defeat the YPG and create a a 32-kilometer-deep, 480-kilometer-long (20-mile by 300-mile) “safe zone” inside Syria along the border to protect its security and provide room to resettle millions of war refugees now in Turkey.

  • Who are the major players in northern Syria?

    US: Troop pullback

    Over the past years, US troops have supported Kurdish fighters as they battled radical “Islamic State” (IS) militants to take back control of large areas of northern Syria. In what was seen as a surprising turnaround, US President Donald Trump announced in early October that he was withdrawing US troops from the region’s border with Turkey. This pullback left a vacuum for others to act and react.

  • Who are the major players in northern Syria?

    Turkey: Anti-Kurdish offensive

    Trump’s troop withdrawal was a de-facto go-ahead for Turkey to launch an offensive into northeast Syria. The region is home to a largely autonomous Kurdish population and Kurdish militants known as the YPG, who are tied to an outlawed Kurdish party in Turkey. Turkey, who has faced a Kurdish insurgency, sees the Syrian Kurds as a threat to its security, hence the military action.

  • Who are the major players in northern Syria?

    Kurdish YPG: Fighting Turkish forces

    The YPG was one of the US’ main allies in the fight to drive out IS from north Syria, but since October it has been fighting the Turkish forces that crossed into Syria. The YPG lacks strong air capabilities and defenses, putting it at a decided disadvantage in comparison to the Turkish army.

  • Who are the major players in northern Syria?

    SDF: Betrayed by the US

    The YPG is the largest component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which also includes Arab and Christian militias. The SDF, which fought IS, controls northeastern Syria and feels betrayed by the US pullback. It is now fighting Turkish troops and their allies. It has warned that the Turkish offensive could distract from making sure IS fighters do not renew their strength in Syria.

  • Who are the major players in northern Syria?

    Syrian government army: Deal made

    The relationship between Syrian President Bashar Assad’s troops and the SDF is a tricky one that shifts between cooperation, live-and-let-live and skirmishes, depending on the current situation. After Turkey launched its offensive, the Kurds struck a deal with the government that saw Syrian troops mobilized to fight the Turkish forces, allowing them to enter a region they had ceded to the SDF.

  • Who are the major players in northern Syria?

    Russia: Stepping up, stepping in

    Russia has consistently backed the government of Syrian President Assad (L, with Putin in 2018) and assisted its forces. After US troops pulled out of the Kurdish areas, Russia moved its troops in to act as a buffer for Syrian government forces advancing towards the Turkish army. Moscow wants Syria to remain united and has accused the US of creating parallel structures in the Kurdish region.

  • Who are the major players in northern Syria?

    SNA: Turkey’s Syrian allies

    Turkey also has allies among Syrian fighters. The Syrian National Army (SNA), also known as the Free Syrian Army, is a Syrian rebel group that has fought against the SDF and Assad’s government. Backed by Turkey, SNA fighters took part in previous Turkish offensives against Kurdish militias inside Syria. Currently, thousands of SNA fighters are fighting the YPG alongside Turkish forces.

  • Who are the major players in northern Syria?

    IS: A renewed role?

    One possible future actor is IS. While it was essentially defeated in March 2019, tens of thousands of its fighters and their families remain in prisons or guarded camps in the Kurdish area of the country. Nearly a thousand alone have already escaped from a camp that was caught in the fighting between Kurdish militias and Turkish forces. Should the situation grow more unstable, IS could regroup.

    Author: Uta Steinwehr, Cristina Burack


Sharp criticism

Critics have accused President Trump of ditching Washington’s Syrian Kurdish partners in the battle against the “Islamic State” (IS). On Sunday, the US announced that it was withdrawing its entire force of 1,000 troops from northern Syria.

Trump defended his move on Wednesday and called it “strategically brilliant.” He also denied having approved Turkey’s actions in Syria in any way.

But the US president has faced intense criticism — both abroad and domestic — over his actions in Syria.

Fighting the domestic political damage and perhaps trying to demonstrate the president’s efforts to stop the offensive, the White House, released a letter sent by Trump to Erdogan on October 9. “Don’t be a tough guy,” the US president told his Turkish counterpart. “Don’t be a fool!” he wrote.

Turkey had rejected any truce.

“Friends let their feelings be known,” Pence said on Thursday. “President Trump did that in this case. But it facilitated an agreement that has now led to a ceasefire.”
 

US leverage

The United States has imposed some sanctions, including a hike on steel tariffs and a suspension of trade talks, and threatened to slap on even tougher penalties if Turkey were to refuse to halt its offensive.

The most effective form of economic leverage would be to hinder Turkey’s access to US financial markets — a step that the Trump administration had avoided.

On Wednesday, Trump said he thought Pence and Erdogan would have a “successful meeting,” but warned of sanctions and tariffs that “will be devastating to Turkey’s economy” otherwise. 

As he sought to push Erdogan to agree to a ceasefire, Pence confronted doubts about both the US’s credibility and, as an emissary of an inconsistent president, his own.

mkg, sri/rt (Reuters, AP)

Every evening at 1830 UTC, DW’s editors send out a selection of the day’s hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/pence-and-erdogan-agree-to-120-hour-ceasefire-in-syria/a-50866978?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

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