Safe zone needed to solve Syrian crisis, experts say

By Meltem Bulur, Nazli Yuzbasioglu, Selen Temizer and Erkan Avci

WASHINGTON/ANKARA

Experts suggests a safe region in northern Syria is needed in order to counter terrorism and reduce a humanitarian crisis for Syrian refugees.

Amr al-Azm, a professor of Middle East history and anthropology at Shawnee State University in the U.S., believed that establishing a safe zone is the first thing that had to be done in the Syrian crisis.

“If the international community, especially the U.S., had agreed on establishing a safe zone for Syrian refugees, losses of lives could have been prevented, besides Turkey and Europe would not have sustained the refugees’ crisis,” al-Azm told Anadolu Agency while citing the fact that Turkey hosts more than 2.7 million Syrian refugees. “Certainly, Syrian would not have had to go to other countries.”

He asserted that airstrikes are the biggest source of the refugee flow. “Europe should be ready for another refugee wave this summer” that could be avoided if a safe zone was established four years ago, he said.

Al-Azm blamed the Obama administration for neglecting the crisis, asserting that it wanted only to do the minimum in the Middle East without intervention, place a priority on Daesh in Iraq and did not do anything to stop the terrorist group from gaining strength in Syria. He also wondered why Europe is not doing anything to ease the refugee crisis while it is suffering the most.

For his side, professor Muhittin Ataman, Deputy Coordinator General at the Ankara-based SETA researches center think tank, said that “if a safe zone was established it would have had a great effect on both security and humanitarian crises. There would not have been attacks on Turkey like those on Kilis province.

“Especially after incidents in Aleppo and Turkmendagi that left hundreds and thousands of victims. All these would not have had happened,” Ataman said.

In March, Turkey’s National Security Council reiterated the need for establishing a no-fly zone in northern Syria in the interest of establishing peace in the war-torn country.

On March, 24, a few days after a spate of suicide attacks in Ankara, Istanbul and Brussels, the council gathered under the chairmanship of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Turkish capital and released a statement that focused on the Syria issue and counterterrorism efforts.

Turkey's offer to create a no-fly zone in Syria is the "right and significant" solution, according to the statement.

The council called on the U.N. and international community to take more responsibility in order to ensure stability in the region.
It emphasized that terrorism constitutes a threat without making any distinction between religion, language, race or nationality and again reiterated that Turkey would "resolutely" fight against any terror threat.

The statement also said Turkey's proposal -- supported by the EU -- on resolving the refugee issue should be implemented "as soon as possible.”

Turkey is hosting the largest number of Syrian refugees in the world and has spent more than 7 billion euros ($7.7 billion) to meet their needs.
Syria has remained locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.