U.S. Safe Zone Deal Can Help Turkey Come to Terms with the PKK and YPG
Soner Cagaptay
August 7, 2019
Checking the YPG’s ascendance in Syria could bring the PKK back to the negotiating table, ultimately making Turkey more amenable to Kurdish enclaves across the border.
Earlier today, Ankara and Washington agreed to “stand up a joint operations center in Turkey as soon as possible to coordinate and manage the establishment of a safe zone” in Syria. This development could help realign the relationship between Turkey’s Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and its Syrian offshoot, the People’s Defense Units (YPG), a group that controls large swaths of Syria’s northern frontier. That in turn could help heal a major sore point in U.S.-Turkish relations.
More:U.S. Safe Zone Deal Can Help Turkey Come to Terms with the PKK and YPG - The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
