FILE PHOTO: Turkish soldiers seen at the border town of Akcakale © Reuters / Murad Sezer
Ankara and Damascus are planning to establish a joint field coordination center in Syria, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told reports while visiting the province of Kayseri on May 4.
According to the Turkish news website Milliyet, Akar described the last meeting with his Syrian counterpart, which took place in Moscow on April 25, as “very important”. The minister said that the two sides reached an understanding on several issues, and moved closer towards drafting a general agreement.
The plan to establish a coordination center in Syria is meant to “to enhance mutual trust, take action and coordinate the activities on the field there immediately instead of just waiting for the meeting of ministers,” Akar said.
The minister speculated that this new diplomatic-military approach will disturb the operations of the People’s Protection Units (YPG).
The faction, which is considered by Ankara to be the Syrian branch of the terrorist-designated Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), is the core of the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) that control vast parts of Syria’s northern and eastern regions with direct support from the United States.
Akar didn’t clarify if the center will also allow Ankara and Damascus to coordinate against terrorist groups, like ISIS and al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). It is also still unknown if Russia and Iran, whom defense ministers attended the last meeting in Moscow, will be represented in the planned center.
Overall, the Turkish-Syrian normalization process appears to be moving forward. The foreign ministers of the two countries may meet in Moscow on May 10.
While Ankara prioritizes addressing the threat posed by the PKK, YPG and the SDF by proxy, Damascus wants the Turkish military to withdraw from all Syrian territory, cut supplies to the remaining rebels and support the fight against ISIS and HTS.
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