... for a new operation. The same holds true for there being no progress in withdrawing SDF-affiliated People’s Defense Units (YPG) from Tell Rifaat, Manbij, and the 30-kilometer area along the Turkey–Syria border in the country’s northeast. Moscow ... ... complying with these obligations. When I asked Turkish experts on this matter, they pointed out that there remained problems in Russia complying with the 2019 Sochi Memorandum, apparently tying these two problems together.
In case Ankara launches a military ...
....S when it comes to on-field preferences. To wit, Kremlin believes that it would be easier to come to an agreement with Ankara rather than Washington as they have already done before in Astana peace process. In addition, the separatist agenda of the YPG that Russia also opposes would have been prevented.
Overall, Kremlin has nothing to lose but a good opportunity to have a significant long-term gain if the Turkish operation is successfully conducted. Besides, Moscow has nowhere to risk jeopardizing significant-high ...
... began meeting more often, which resulted in a certain amount of mutual understanding, including the development of specific mechanisms for cooperation in Syria. Nevertheless, the issue of the YPG was a matter of principle for Ankara, which believed the YPG units operating in that country were affiliated with the PKK and did not allow them to participate in the intra-Syrian talks. Russia viewed the situation in a somewhat different light, believing it was necessary to bring all the influential Syrian actors, including various Kurdish representatives, to the negotiating table [
37
].
On 24 August 2016, Turkey sent ground troops ...
... that the Kurds (Kurdish People's Protection Units) will “receive no more weapons.” The Pentagon reiterated the claim announcing “pending adjustments to the military support provided to the Kurdish partners.”
Evgeniia Drozhashchikh, Rethinking Russia expert and postgraduate student at Lomonosov Moscow State University, asked Michael Gunter, professor of political science at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville and authority on Kurds in Turkey and Iraq, and Kerim Has, PhD in Political ...
