Speaking to CNN today, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that his allies are “warming” to the idea of imposing a safe zone in northern Syria, a plan that his government had advocated for years as an alternative to Turkey accepting massive numbers of refugees.
Erdogan didn’t specify who the allies are, but the claim is likely not true, as only last week the State Department declared that an initially agree to program for creating a safe zone was being abandoned outright, convinced that there is “no viable way” to create such a zone anymore.
Erdogan also talked up the idea of a no-fly zone across northern Syria, which is precisely the reason why the State Department declared the safe zone unworkable. With Russia carrying out airstrikes against ISIS across northern Iraq, trying to keep Russian warplanes out of the area appears a herculean task.
Turkish officials didn’t comment when the State Department dismissed the plan, and Erdogan’s comments are the first public mention of the safe zone since then, suggesting that they and the Obama Administration are far apart on the strategy for northern Syria.
Screw that. Since he had perhaps more of a role than anyone else outside of Syria in creating the refugee crisis, Turkey should have to take them all.
Erdogan is a liar.
All politicians are!
People think Russia just stepped in to save Assad(or his side) but they should pay more attention to the possibility that Russia was reacting to pressure for increased Nato presence in Syria.
This comes back to the naval base. But that base is militarily useless inasmuch as, in a war with NATO, it would be impossible to supply it. Turkey would close the Straits, bottling up Puitn's Black Sea Fleet. Denmark would close the Great Belt, bottling up the Baltic Fleet, so the nearest usable Russian port would be … Murmansk! Even then, supply ships would have to run the gauntlet of NATO coasts from Norway right down to Gibraltar and then accross the whole Med. In practice, in a war, the naval and air forces in Syria would have no choice but to surrender and if their commanders wouldn't do it, the sailors and airmen would probably mutiny, 1917-style, and surrender themselves. It is for this useless naval base that Putin has got 242 Russian tourists killed (so far)!
Nevermind that naval base. How does 'Nato conquering half of Syria' sound to Russia you think? They've become very intolerant of any expansion of nato into their sphere of influence.