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NATO sets up crisis management center over Turkey’s operation in Syria - newspaper

It said the center would include intelligence and security experts, military specialists and political advisers

BERLIN, October 20. /TASS/. NATO member nations have set up a crisis management center over Turkey’s military operation in northern Syria to assess the development of the situation in the region, Germany’s Welt am Sonntag reported on Sunday.

It said the center would include intelligence and security experts, military specialists and political advisers.

According to the newspaper, Turkey’s operation in Syria was in focus of a meeting between ambassadors from 29 NATO member nations on Wednesday. The meeting was held behind closed doors and lasted more than two hours. German, French, Albanian, Icelandic, Belgian and Luxembourg envoys gave to understand that Ankara should not rely on any support in case the situation aggravated after an offensive on Kurdish positions, the newspaper said.

On October 9, Ankara launched its Peace Spring military operation in northern Syria. The operation is geared to establish a buffer zone in Syria’s northern regions, along the Turkish border to send back Syrian refugees from Turkey. Syria’s SANA news agency slammed Ankara’s operation as an act of aggression. The world community has condemned Ankara’s actions.

On October 17, the United States and Turkey reached an agreement to suspend combat operation. Turkey agreed to cease fire for a span of 120 hours to give Kurdish units of the Syrian Democratic Forces time to leave the area of the border security zone Ankara is seeking to create.