Following his reconciliation offer to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is trying to soften the climate with Damascus on the one side while insisting on his plan for a safe zone along the border on the other.
Speaking at a ceremony Aug. 25, Erdogan for the first time publicly outlined a safe zone that links Syria and Iraq to counter the threats that Turkey perceives from armed Kurdish groups in its two southern neighbors. “We will not stop our struggle until we secure our southern borders from end to end with a corridor extending to a depth of 30 kilometers (19 miles),” Erdogan declared, vowing that Turkey’s military operations would continue “according to its own planning.”