'Buffer zone in Syria dangerous gambit for Turkey'

Press TV has interviewed with Soraya Sepahpour Ulrich, an independent researcher from California, and Michael Lane, with American Institute for Foreign Policy in Washington, to discuss Turkey's ongoing incursion into Syria and its purported goal of establishing a buffer zone along the joint border.

Michael Lane believes that the idea of establishing a buffer zone in Syria is a very dangerous gambit on the part of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan which could have disastrous consequences both for Turkey and the entire region.

Turkey is following three different objectives with the idea of a buffer zone, Lane said, adding that one of those objectives is to push back anti-Turkish forces, such as the PKK, from its borders.

The departure of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is the second one, he stated, noting that Turkey seems to have dropped this one  for the time being, because it knows that Assad's departure would result in a weak Syria and "that would consequently lead to stronger Kurdish forces and the possibility of a Kurdish state."

“It looks like he [Erdogan] is willing to tolerate an extended stay by President Assad in Syria,” he argued.

“The third one would be to ensure that the Syrian Kurds don't have the ability to establish what is or is perceived [as] their own independent state because ... that's something that Erdogan has fought against from the very beginning.”

However, Soraya Sepahpour pointed the finger of blame at Washington, saying that if it weren't for the US blessing, Turkey’s aggression against Syria would have been impossible.

“I think that it has been in the making for a while. If you do follow policy papers here in America, you will realize that this was all part of the plan,” she underscored.

“When the coup happened in Turkey, everyone believed, including myself initially, that there had been a genuine coup against Erdogan and that the CIA may have been behind it. But now I'm firmly on the opinion that actually it might have been a coup with the United States and not by the United States.”

She argued that the recent failed coup in Turkey was actually devised to enable Erdogan to play a devilishly clever game and invade the sovereign state of Syria under the pretext of killing the Kurds.

"America has always played the Kurds' card," Sepahpour added. "Washington pretends to support their autonomy and fund them like they did when the Kurds were encouraged to rebel against Iraq’s central government by the CIA and by the Shah of Iran. But after that, they withdrew their support and so many Kurds were killed with the exact same scenario happening in Turkey and Syria."

“I do believe that there's a lot of room for concern, but I don't believe for a moment that Washington and Israel are not behind Turkey in this incursion,” she stated.

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