Safe Zone Discussion within the Context of Developments in the North of Syria and the location of the Turkmen

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A closed workshop meeting titled “Safe Zone Discussion within the Context of Developments in the North of Syria and the location of the Turkmen” was held with the cooperation of Syrian Turkmen Assembly and ORSAM on 3 September 2015. Politicians, bureaucrats from government agencies, academics, and researchers from research centres, journalists and Syrian Turkmen representatives attended the workshop.

The workshop began with the opening remarks by the ORSAM President Şaban Kardaş, the President of Syrian Turkmen Assembly Abdurrahman Mustafa, and the Honorary President of Syrian Turkmen Mehmet Şandır. The workshop was held in two sessions. ORSAM Researcher Oytun Orhan, SETA Researcher Can Acun and the President of Syrian Turkmen Assembly Abdurrahman Mustafa were the key speakers of the first session and they discussed the latest situation in the northern part of Syria. Following the short presentations, within the framework of participants’ reviews, answers to the following questions are sought: “How is the general picture of the Syrian northern front? Which players are involved in the north of Syria? How is the power balance and relations among the actors? Which actors can fill the power vacuum in the area cleaned of ISIS? What is Turkey’s foreign policy toward the north of Syria, and how should it be? What are the aims of PYD and how are its relations with PKK?”

At the second session, which was titled: “Safe Zone Discussions in the North of Syria and the Turkmen”, TOBB University Faculty member Nihat Ali Ozcan, Al Jazeera Turk reporter Yılmaz Bilgen and Sultan Murat Brigade Commander Yusuf Salih were the key speakers. SETA Foreign Policy Coordinator Ufuk Ulutaş was the moderator of the session, answers to the following questions were discussed:  “Which areas will and should the safe zone cover? What kind of negative and positive consequences will it bring for the Turkmens? What should be the political goals of the formation of safe zone? Which actors can fill the power vacuum in the area which will be cleaned of ISIS? How will local people, the opposition regime, ISIS and PYD react to safe zone?”