Kurdish SDF leader Mazloum Abdi has offered Turkey a compromise to prevent a looming clash between Kurdish and pro-Turkish forces, by handing over checkpoints and border security to US forces and withdraw Kurdish forces from a new designated military zone. Previously, the border between Syria and Turkey on Syria’s side was managed by a combination of Russian and official government forces in coordination with Turkey. Now, that Assad’s forces and the Russians are no longer operational in the area, the Kurds are left with total control over Syria’s border with Turkey bar the parts which Turkey has occupied directly. According to Turkey, this is a serious security concern.
Turkey and the new Syrian leadership want the Syrian Democratic Forces to disarm and integrate with the new and upcoming Syrian regular army. The European Union is backing Turkey in this matter, while the US forces in Syria have signaled that they are backing their allies, the Kurds. A clash between pro-Turkish forces and Kurdish forces is still imminent. The SDF has issued a statement that they are ready to fight saying that just as Kobani was the city where ISIS fell, it will also be the city that will end Erdogan’s mercenaries.
Kobani, which borders Turkey, is a strong symbol of Kurdish resistance and the Syrian rebellion against ISIS having been the last stand against ISIS before the tide turned against them. After the Kurds successfully broke the siege of Kobani, the Kurds went on to liberate multiple cities and areas from ISIS including their capital Raqqa to eventually form their own autonomous regional government in the north-eastern part of Syria. The major contentious issue with this development is that the Kurds are in control of several areas which have an Arab-majority, and many residents of these areas are contesting the rule of the Kurdish autonomous government.
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