Some political experts believe Turkey\u2019s Euphrates Shield Operation was stopped by the U.S. and Russia and the two states would not let Ankara to attack Syria Kurds any longer.<\/p>\n
\u201cTurkey\u2019s Operation Euphrates shield was stopped by moves by both United States and Russia,\u201d said retired senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, who is now an regional analyst. Both Russia and the U.S. deployed military forces as a buffer against further gains by Turkish-backed forces in Syria.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem facing Turkey is Russia and the U.S. are stopping Turkey from intervening,\u201d said Semih Idiz, political columnist for the Al Monitor website. “They are agreed on an overriding agenda [of] defeating ISIS (Islamic State). Now Turkey has this Kurdish agenda and it does not have support of either Russia or the Untied States … That is the dilemma facing Turkey.”<\/p>\n
Moscow has deployed military forces in the YPG-controlled Afrin region, some of them reportedly close to the Turkish border. But, \u201cTurkey sees a window of opportunity,\u201d said analyst Selcen. \u201cNow there is a change on ground between Russia and U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n
Selcen said Moscow is infuriated by the growing military cooperation between the YPG and the U.S. to drive the Islamic State from its self-declared capital of Raqqa. The YPG makes up a large proportion of the Syrian Democratic Forces seeking to capture Raqqa, an operation that excludes the Syrian regime.<\/p>\n
Russian frustrations were heightened in June when a U.S. jet shot down a Syrian government fighter-bomber reportedly targeting SDF forces.<\/p>\n
Ankara has stepped up its diplomatic courting of Moscow, having announced plans last month to purchase an advanced Russia air defense system. The Turkish foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusolgu, spoke on Sunday with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the ASEAN meeting in Manila.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some political experts believe Turkey\u2019s Euphrates Shield Operation was stopped by the U.S. and Russia and the two states would not let Ankara to attack Syria Kurds any longer. \u201cTurkey\u2019s Operation Euphrates shield was stopped by moves by both United States and Russia,\u201d said retired senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, who is now an regional […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[304,301,206,82,303,302,23,164,191],"yoast_head":"\n