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Midad AL-Adab Refereed Quarterly Journal

Midad AL-Adab Refereed Quarterly Journal

Abstract

Turkey could not hide its ambitions of having political and military presence in north and east Syria, where a severe armed struggle for territories has outbroken for decades. This struggle became more complicated when the Syrian Kurds exploited the anarchy caused by the conflict of 2011 to demand federal or selfruled region without taking the central government’s desires into consideration. The Turks viewed this move as a serious threat to their national security, especially it could inspire the Kurds of Turkey to do the same. Accordingly, the Turkish president ‘Erdogan’ suggested a plan for creating a security zone in north and east Syria during his visit to Washington in May 2013. This plan, however, was not approved by the United States but that did not prevent Turkey from sending its troops to the region. The intervention took place through three campaigns; ‘Euphrates Shell’, ‘Olive Branch’, and ‘Peace Spring’ and resulted in the establishment of a security zone extending 900 kilometers, from Jarabulus at west to al-Malikiya at east and covering around 20,000 square kilometers. Through this zone, Turkey achieved many important geopolitical goals at both the domestic and regional levels. Most importantly, it prevented the establishment of a Kurdish political entity near to its southern border. Moreover, the zone could be used to settle the Syrian emigrants who fled their homeland in addition to the creation of new facts on the ground. These facts could strengthen the Turkish position in the Syrian conflict

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