SDC: Turkish-controlled safe zone in Syria would create 'chaos'

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - The spokesperson for the Kurdish-backed Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), Amjad Othman, said in an interview with Kurdistan 24 that Turkey is not looking for a solution of the Syrian crisis and that its attempts to occupy more territory in the country should be stopped.

Previously, Othman had said it was difficult to make a statement on a proposed buffer zone in Syrian areas along the Turkish border. “The details are not clear yet, we hope this decision will contribute to creating a safe zone and will not destroy the safety of Syria in the name of a safe zone.”

On Monday, US President Donald Trump suggested in a tweet that a 20-mile “safe zone” would be created in northeastern Syria. 

A day later, his Turkish counterpart, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Ankara would set up a security zone some 30-kilometers (18 miles) deep into northeastern Syria in coordination with Washington.

“Everyone knows that this area is already safe,” said Othman. “The SDC earlier told the UN and international community that they are ready to bring refugees from other camps to the east of the Euphrates... We are worried that some sides will try to use this situation for their own interests and make chaos instead of a safe zone.”

He added, “If this suggestion is a real safe zone, then we can build it, and make a real safe zone that will be part of a general political solution. If not, there will be chaos and it will open the door to conflict.”

Leading Kurdish top officials, the self-administration of northeast Syria, and the SDF earlier have called for the establishment of an area supervised by members of the international community.

Mustafa Bali, the head of the press office on Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) tweeted on Saturday, that if Turkey is allowed to be in charge of the safe zone, it would “set the cat among the pigeons.” 

“The [safe zone] must be supervised by international actors and must protect the peoples of northern Syria, including Kurds,” he added.

Othman, the SDC spokesperson, said that if a buffer zone is administered by the international community, it would be fundamentally different from a Turkish-controlled one. “We think the international community should respond to protect the SDF and the people in this area and stop the Turkish threat to occupy more areas in Syria.”

He also welcomed recent statements by US officials that the Kurds should be protected. 

In early January, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the US will prevent the Turks from “slaughtering“ Syrian Kurds. On Sunday, President Trump threatened to “devastate Turkey economically,” if it attacked them.

Othman continued, “Not only the Kurds should be saved, but also the Arabs. Because a Turkish attack will threaten all the components in the northeast of Syria, as shown by [the attack on and occupation of] Afrin.“ 

Former US envoy of the anti-ISIS coalition Brett McGurk, who left his post early in protest against Trump’s decision to withdraw troops, wrote in a Washington Post op-ed on Friday that the “entry of Turkish-backed opposition forces would likely displace thousands of Kurds, as well as threaten vulnerable Christian communities interspersed in these areas.”

“The Syrian opposition forces it backs are marbled with extremists and number too few to constitute an effective challenge to Assad or a plausible alternative to the SDF,” he added, underlining that Turkish-controlled Idlib is increasingly dominated by al-Qaeda-aligned militias. 

Othman said that ”Turkey does not want a solution,” and agreed that Turkey is using “radical Islamist Jihadist groups and the Syrian people as tools for their own interests and occupying project.“

“We didn’t make any threat to Turkey, nor we are thinking of posing a threat to Turkey. We are a part of Syria and we have the right to live on our land and the right to be part of the political solution,” he added. 

“They never care about what the Syrian people want.”

Editing by John J. Catherine