The U.S.-backed Kurdish militia forces challenged Turkey's threat to remove them from the city by declaring they will continue to hold the Syrian town. (AFP photo)
ISTANBUL, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Turkish hopes to kick Kurdish militia out of the Syrian city of Manbij seem to have been thwarted as the United States, Russia and the Syrian government cooperate to deter a Turkish advance by deploying troops around the city.
The U.S.-backed Kurdish militia forces challenged Turkey's threat to remove them from the city by declaring they will continue to hold the Syrian town.
Analysts advised against a Turkish military move to capture Manbij, warning Turkey would find itself confronting all other actors in the Syrian theatre.
"Such a move would put Turkey at cross purposes with both Washington and Moscow as well as the Syrian regime," Faruk Logoglu, a former diplomat who held top posts in the Turkish Foreign Ministry, told Xinhua.
Some U.S. troops are stationed inside and in rural parts of western Manbij since last week to deter actors from attacking groups other than the Islamic State (IS), Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said on Monday.
The Kurdish militia also handed over last week several villages in western Manbij to the Syrian army to serve as a buffer zone with the Turkish troops. Some outposts held by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) with Russian flags in the area were recently published in the Turkish press.
"The Syrian conflict would then morph into a much larger conflagration, spelling the end of peace talks and leading to Turkey's further isolation," warned Logoglu.
Reuters reported earlier Monday that the Manbij Military Council (MMC) of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said the town and its rural area are protected by the council under the surveillance of the U.S.-led coalition forces.
The SDF is largely dominated by the YPG which Turkey sees as the Syrian offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that has been waging an insurgency against Turkey for over 30 years.
Top Turkish officials have repeatedly vowed in recent weeks that the Turkish troops will move on to capture Manbij unless the YPG leaves the town.
Manbij lies about 30 kilometers to the west of the Euphrates River and is strategically important to unite the two Kurdish cantons in northeastern Syria with the third Afrin canton in the western part of the river.
"An attempt to capture Manbij would mean confrontation with three critical actors in Syria, namely the U.S., Russia and Syria as well as Iran," Ilhan Uzgel, a senior analyst in international relations, told Xinhua.
"So, it's highly unlikely for Turkey to take such a step now," he added.
The U.S. move came after reports last week that the Free Syrian Army (FSA), backed by the Turkish military, had seized some villages in the rural parts of western Manbij from the SDF.
The Pentagon spokesman's remarks indicated that the U.S. does not approve of the Turkish plan to drive the Kurdish militia from the town.
"There is not a need for others to advance on it in attempts to 'liberate' it," Davis was quoted as telling reporters.
The Turkish forces, backed by FSA militants, captured last month al-Bab from the IS. Al-Bab lies to the west of Manbij in northern Syria.
Turkey has long tried to convince the United States, so far without success, not to treat the YPG as a partner in the fight against the IS. Washington has also often been criticized by Ankara for providing weapons to the YPG.
"Turkey has no national interest nor any legal ground in attacking Manbij," Haldun Solmazturk, chairman of Incek debates with Ankara-based 21st Century Turkey Institute, told Xinhua.
"Such a move would create many complications without any benefits," he cautioned.
Four Turkish troops in rural al-Bab were slightly wounded on Monday in a mortar shelling believed to be fired by the YPG. Ankara launched a military offensive into Syria in August last year to push the IS away from its border and prevent the emergence of a Kurdish corridor.
The attack was retaliated immediately, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in a live interview on A Haber news channel.
Underlining Turkey is insistent that Manbij should be cleared of the YPG, Yildirim described the presence of U.S. and Russian flags suddenly in the area as a sort of competition for raising flags.
"It's quite natural for Syrian troops to be there, because that's Syrian territory. The U.S. and Russia can also be present there (with troops)," he added, however.
Ankara has many times expressed willingness to be part of the coalition campaign against the IS stronghold of Raqqa as long as the United States agrees to keep the Kurdish militia off it.
In January, the SDF was provided by the U.S. with armored vehicles for the first time ahead of the planned Raqqa offensive. Raqqa, the de facto IS capital, is currently besieged by the SDF militia.
"The cooperation with the SDF and our partners (about Raqqa) is going on at the moment. There is no reason to change that cooperation," Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency quoted an unnamed high-level Pentagon official as saying on Tuesday.
The official also reportedly added that it is up to the White House to give the final decision on the issue.
"It is unfortunate that some terrorist organizations are being chosen as partners," Yildirim said at a press conference on Tuesday.
"Manbij is the prelude to and staging ground for Raqqa. The U.S. and Russia are trying to shun a confrontation between Turkish forces and the YPG to eventually keep both sides in the Raqqa picture," Logoglu observed.
According to reports in the Turkish media, U.S. special forces are also stationed in rural parts of northern Manbij, which neighbors the area held by Turkish troops. An AFP report showed pictures of U.S. armored vehicles in the western part of the town.
The Syrian government, which Turkey does not recognize as legitimate, considers the presence of Turkish troops on its territory as aggression.
Bashar Ja'afari, Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, reportedly said last week that Syria reserves the right to use all the means available to expel the Turkish troops.
Turkey insists that the YPG must withdraw to the east of the Euphrates, underlining that Manbij is an Arab-populated city. The YPG captured the city from the IS last August.
Turkish officials have often accused the YPG, which has carved out three autonomous cantons along Turkey's border since the Syrian civil war started, of entertaining territorial ambitions in Syria.
Chiefs of the Turkish, Russian and U.S. militaries met on Tuesday in Antalya, Turkey, to discuss the developments in Syria and Iraq.
The top commanders are working to coordinate moves on the ground in Syria to eliminate the possibility of a confrontation, Yildirim told reporters, noting the risk of an unwanted clash is not to be ignored.
The meeting of the top brass came ahead of a visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Russia. Erdogan will meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday.
"Turkey's biggest setback in Syria is the fact that it does not have any other ally than the FSA, which is not sufficiently strong," argued Uzgel, who taught at Ankara University for many years.
Turkey has often underlined that it respects the territorial integrity of Syria, but it is widely argued that Turkey's moves would serve more to disintegrate its southern neighbor.
Top Turkish officials have said time and again that towns the Turkish troops capture on the Syrian soil will be handed over to local people rather than the Syrian government forces. Turkey argues towns in Syria should belong to the people who live there.
"Despite the Turkish government's obvious efforts to disintegrate Syria, I believe the country's territorial integrity will be maintained by Syrians," stated Solmazturk, a retired general.
Solmazturk is positive that the ongoing Geneva talks will be fruitful in settling the civil war in Syria.
"Statements by Turkish officials about ownership of Syrian territory by this or that group in Syria are unprecedented and undermine Syria's territorial integrity and must therefore be stopped," remarked Logoglu.
Many believe a federal Syria is on the cards. The Syrian government, with its military being greatly weakened by years of fighting, could settle for a federal Syria to maintain the country's territorial integrity given the U.S. support and Russian tolerance of the YPG.
Russia does not recognize either the PKK or the YPG as a terrorist organization. Despite Turkey's strong opposition, it favors the participation of the YPG's political wing in the Geneva peace talks.
"The U.S. is working for the formation of a federal Syria," maintained Solmazturk.
The U.S. built several military bases in the two Kurdish cantons on the eastern part of the Euphrates during the civil war. Helicopters and transport aircraft carried U.S. special forces as well as weapons for the Kurds thanks to the bases, according to reports in the Turkish media.
Recent remarks by Premier Yildirim vaguely imply that the U.S. bases can become permanent, increasing the possibility of the emergence of a federal Kurdish state along Turkey's border.
In remarks to journalists last weekend, Yildirim said no foreign forces should be allowed to stay in Syria and Iraq. But he also added that the U.S. and Russian forces could remain if they are given a military base there.
"It's quite likely that a Kurdish autonomous region in Syria will emerge, because neither the U.S. nor Russia is categorically opposed to such an entity," Uzgel argued.
Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has often been criticized at home for pursuing a sectarian policy in Syria that is neither coherent nor serves the country's interests.
Solmazturk feels the Turkish government's willingness to be part of the Raqqa campaign has to do with its aspiration to create its "own" state in Syria which would be under its sway.
"Disintegration of states in the Middle East would have disastrous consequences," he warned.
