Ömer Özkizilcik

With my comments:https://twitter.com/Adam_Lucente/status/1172405018189684737 …

This tweet of @SOJTFOIR sums up the main aim of the US side in regards to the safe-zone deal with Turkey. Step by step the rhetoric of the #US side changes towards a direct mediation between #Turkey and the #YPG/#SDF. https://twitter.com/SOJTFOIR/status/1172121214648799233?s=19 …

It is the obligation of the US government to keep a leash on the generals at Centcom, not Turkey’s. What is wrong with the framing, or do you deny the existend feud between CENTCOM and EUCOM, or that CENTCOM has its reserves against Jeffrey?https://twitter.com/aaronstein1/status/1171843161473409026?s=19 …

CENTCOM tries to sabotage by portraying the military councils formed by the YPG as local forces knowing that it can trigger TR to end the deal which may end in a failure for EUCOM, the State Department & Jeffrey, allowing CENTCOM to go on as the policy-making actor in Syria."

"Despite Daesh’s territorial defeat, CENTCOM isn’t willing to handover the power it shouldn’t have obtained in the first place. Now, Turkey is helping the US to re-establish order in its own house with the safe zone deal, but CENTCOM knows how to sabotage agreements."

"The success of the safe zone deal is in the interests of the US State Department and James Jeffrey, and they must reassert control over CENTCOM and re-establish an order of command to ensure that CENTCOM is not a policy-making actor but a policy-implementing figure in Syria."

"People with knowledge about the entire safe zone discussion pointed out that the appointment of James Jeffrey has been viewed with dissatisfaction by CENTCOM officials, and that Jeffrey and the US State Department have a tough time to enforcing their will on CENTCOM in Syria."

"CENTCOM has the capability and seemingly the will to sabotage the safe zone deal. If CENTCOM wins this round of internal rivalry with EUCOM, the NATO alliance not only might face a huge setback as EUCOM weakens against CENTCOM, but CENTCOM may also grow into a hierarchy problem"

"EUCOM’s perspective may be more viable for international relations in a global sense & in the spirit of the NATO alliance, but it’s CENTCOM who is in charge in Syria. CENTCOM prefers to engage with a non-state actor and doesn’t value the NATO alliance as much as EUCOM."

"While the safe zone deal with Turkey was formed to address Turkey’s security concerns, the deal might end up provoking rivalry over power between EUCOM & CENTCOM, in which the US State Department & the US Special Envoy James Jeffrey might finally get control over Syrian affairs"

"US diplomats with knowledge of the safe zone deal state that CENTCOM was told that they do not have a say on this matter and must accept the deal. One of the main problems with the deal is the EUCOM-CENTCOM balance of power as CENTCOM’s forces have to implement it on the ground"

"EUCOM has seen CENTCOM activities as steps weakening the NATO front and ignoring the threat perception of a critical NATO ally. Therefore, no wonder that EUCOM played a critical role in the safe zone negotiations and enabled the deal despite CENTCOM’s resistance. "

"CENTCOM officials see the partnership with the YPG-dominated SDF as a milestone in the US approach. In their eyes the engagement with the YPG proved effective with low costs & no combat fatalities for the US. Over time, CENTCOM officials adopted the ideas & arguments of the YPG"

"The reluctance of the Obama administration to take strategic responsibility in Syria, and the ignorance of the Trump administration towards the details on the ground enabled CENTCOM to become the sole US actor in Syria."

"The entire safe zone deal becomes even more complicated due to the differences between EUCOM and CENTCOM. CENTCOM has long been the US’s only policy-making and implementing body in Syria and formed a close bond to the YPG terror group."