ANKARA: Turkey and the United States have reached an understanding, but not full agreement, about stabilising the town of Manbij and other areas of Kurdish-controlled northern Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday.
Turkey, which on Sunday stormed the northern Syrian town of Afrin after a two-month offensive against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, has repeatedly threatened to push its operations further east to Manbij where US troops are stationed.
Expanding Turkey’s military campaign into the much larger Kurdish-held territory further east, which President Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to do, would risk confrontation between the Nato allies who have been at loggerheads over the US policy in Syria and other issues.
Speaking at a news conference in Ankara, Cavusoglu denied media reports that Ankara and Washington had agreed a deal on the fate of Manbij, 100 km east of Afrin.
“We said we reached an understanding, which is mainly that Syria’s Manbij and the east of the Euphrates be stabilised. We said we reached an understanding, not an agreement,” he said.
Ankara was seeking an agreement with Washington over who will secure Manbij after the YPG, which Turkey considers a terrorist organisation, withdraws from the area.
Pulling out only from Manbij would not be enough, Cavusoglu said.
“The YPG will withdraw from these areas, like Manbij for example. We will work together for the security of these areas. Manbij is, of course, not enough. First, the YPG will leave and the people of Manbij will govern it.
The security of the area will be ensured. We will apply the Manbij model to other areas controlled by the YPG as well,” he said.
Turkey considers the YPG to be an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the state, and has been infuriated by the support Washington has provided the Syrian Kurdish fighters. The issue caused a crisis between the Nato allies.
Outgoing US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had taken a leading role in recent weeks to resolve the dispute, promising to find a solution for Manbij during a visit to Turkey last month. However Turkey said US President Donald Trump’s announcement that he was removing Tillerson from office may delay a potential deal between Ankara and Washington.
Meanwhile, a Russian-brokered deal has been reached to evacuate a Syrian rebel group from a town in eastern Ghouta, opposition sources and officials said on Wednesday, the first such deal in the remaining rebel bastion near the capital.
Fighters from the Ahrar al Sham rebel group in control of the besieged town of Harasta had agreed to lay down arms in return for safe passage to opposition-held northwestern Syria and an offer to be pardoned under reconciliation terms with the authorities for those who want to stay, the sources said.
There was no indication when the deal would be implemented and one source familiar with the talks said obstacles may delay it for a few days.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Wednesday it had opened a new “humanitarian corridor” near Harasta but did not indicate that this could be part of any rebel pullout deal.
The Syrian army and allied forces have recaptured 70 per cent of the territory that was under insurgent control in the enclave and after weeks of bombardment residents are fleeing by the thousands.
The Syrian army assault backed by Russian air power that began last month has killed hundreds of people as air strikes pound residential areas where thousands had sheltered in basements across the densely populated enclave, according to rescuers and a monitor.
Years of siege and bombardment have been a strategy by the Syrian army to force rebels to surrender and help Syrian President Bashar al Assad recover all of Aleppo, Homs and other areas. “The deal has been finalised and it could come into effect soon after a ceasefire is announced as early as Wednesday,” said one official familiar with the talks.
It would begin with an evacuation of injured civilians, he added, saying the remaining civilians in the town were “facing untold suffering.”
A pro-Assad commander confirmed a deal between the Russians and Ahar al Sham had been concluded with an evacuation of wounded from Harasta expected on Wednesday, followed by civilians and fighters evacuated to rebel-held Idlib in northwestern Syria in the “coming days.”
An official in the opposition-run Harasta council was quoted as saying a deal had been reached but did not say when it would be implemented.
— Agencies
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