T. Belman. Mecouris goes so far as to contemplate a new axis developing linking Turkey, Syria, Iran and Afghanistan. and backed by Russia and China.
6:OO pm TODAY.
WHAT ARE IMPLICATIONS FOR ISRAEL
Turkey, Syria, Russia to hold new talks on civil war, terrorism
STRAITS TIMES
ANKARA – Foreign ministers from Russia, Syria and Turkey will meet in the second half of January, after last week holding the highest-level gathering since the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said late on Saturday that he had a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov to discuss the timing and venue of the next meeting, according to state-run Anadolu news agency.
The stepped-up diplomacy comes after a recent rapprochement between Turkey and its southern neighbour.
Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar and his Syrian counterpart Ali Mahmoud Abbas held talks in Moscow on Wednesday hosted by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.
The Turkish and Syrian intelligence chiefs also took part.
The discussions focused on the civil war and collaboration against “all terrorist groups” in the Middle East state, Turkey said, in a thinly-veiled reference to Kurdish militias in Syria.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said in a statement that the meeting focused on combating “extremist groups on Syrian territory”.
The meeting could be held in Moscow or in another country, Anadolu cited Mr Cavusoglu as saying. The sides need to explore if there will be a higher-level meeting in future, he said.
Turkey has lately indicated that it was preparing to put aside hostilities with neighbouring Syria, where Turkish officials fear the emergence of a budding Kurdish state backed by the US government.
Frustrated by Washington’s refusal to end military assistance to Kurdish militia in Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seeking to resolve the matter through other brokers in the conflict.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his military to intervene in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2015, helping to tip the balance in the civil war in favour of the regime.
Russian troops have continued to support Syria’s army, even as Mr Putin and Mr Erdogan have joined with Iran to try to broker an agreement to end the conflict.
For months, Mr Erdogan has threatened to unleash a new military offensive to expand a Turkish buffer zone inside Syria and push the Kurdish YPG and PYD groups away from their shared border.
Those plans triggered criticism from the US, which said unilateral Turkish action would undermine operations against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group, carried out jointly with groups that include the YPG.
Turkey regards the YPG as an extension of the Kurdish separatist group PKK that it fights at home.
The US and the European Union both consider the PKK to be a terrorist organisation, just as Turkey does. BLOOMBERG
Agenda of Tripartite Meetings: Danger to Kurds, Syrian Opposition
Both Kurds in northeast Syria and the Syrian opposition have reacted with alarm to these negotiations, as it is too easy to see a deal-in-the-making.
Already on Friday, North Press Agency suggested that Turkey had “two main goals.” One, it said, was returning “Syrian refugees to their country.” Turkey hosts nearly four million Syrian refugees, who are increasingly unwelcome. Turkish elections are slated for June, and Erdogan would receive a populist boost at the polls, if he could say he had taken care of the issue.
The second Turkish goal, which North Press Agency described as “undeclared,” is “to abort the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES),” the Kurdish-led government in northeast Syria, “and to create a demographic change by settling refugees in those areas without making concessions on other areas under its control in northwest Syria.”
Or, perhaps, Turkey would make concessions in northwest Syria, but the underlying deal would be that Turkey facilitates restoration of the regime’s control in exchange for ending the de facto Kurdish independence in northeast Syria, or, at least, curbing it significantly.
And, perhaps, as North Press Agency suggested, it would include diluting the Kurdish population of the northeast by a large-scale population transfer, involving the Arab refugees in Turkey
US Opposition to Tripartite Negotiations
Over the past week, the State Department, responding to questions from Kurdistan 24, issued two strong statements against the Russian-led diplomacy aimed at reconciling Turkey and Syria.
One U.S. objection concerns the threats to attack the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which Turkey’s Defense Minister made in the context of the tripartite discussions.
“We continue to make clear both privately and publicly that we strongly oppose military action, including a land incursion” into northeast Syria, a State Department Spokesperson told Kurdistan 24. “All parties should immediately de-escalate.”
Read More: US ‘strongly’ opposes Turkish attack on Syria; calls for immediate de-escalation
Moreover, the U.S. opposes reconciliation with the Assad regime, on the part of Turkey or any other party.
“We do not support countries upgrading their relations or expressing support to rehabilitate the brutal dictator, Bashar al-Assad,” a State Department Spokesperson told Kurdistan 24.
“As the Syrian people continue to suffer through nearly 12 years of war, our support for a Syrian-led political solution in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2254 remains firm,” the Spokesperson added. “We will continue to work with allies, partners, and the UN to ensure that a durable political solution remains within reach.”
Read More: US warns against Turkish rapprochement with Syria
Looks like Ezekiel 38-39 to me. This looks to me like “peace in Syria” via an attack on Israel. Is everyone ready?