On Saturday, US President Donald Trump claimed that only safe zones in Syria and other war-plagued countries can stop the migrant crisis, stressing that the Gulf states should pay for those zones.
Speaking at a campaign rally in Florida, the US president said that instead of opening borders and taking in millions of refugees from Syria and other conflict zones, the European countries could also assist in establishing these safe zones which could help those displaced by war stay home and live securely without having to become refugees.
"What I want to do is build safe zones in Syria and other places, so they can stay there and live safely… we are going to have the Gulf states pay for these safe zones. They have nothing but money. And we are going to do that way instead of taking… tens of thousands people into our country… we want people that love us… we want people that are going to be great for our country, we do not want people with bad ideas," Trump said in Florida.
Sputnik Turkiye discussed the issue with Faruk Logoglu, the former First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Member of Turkish Republican Party (CHP) and former Ambassador to the United States, who said that the US apparently does not have any detailed plan on the issue yet.
"There is no clarity what do the US authorities actually mean by the so-called 'safe zones' and where do they want to set them up," he told Sputnik.
He also noted that taking into account the developments in and around Syria, the "safe zones" are not of any vital importance as they might have been before the start of the peace talks. Those who wanted to leave Syria, have already done it.
What is more important, Logoglu said, is the setup of concrete steps on the protection of civil population in case of an offensive on liberation of Raqqa.
"The US intentions of creating of the "safe zones" in Syria depend on the suggestions which will be made to Donald Trump and on how he will react to them, which decision he will make," he said.
Interestingly enough, Logoglu said, Trump has already discussed the issue with Saudi Arabia and Jordan. However he has not discussed it with Turkey, even though Turkey was the most insistent in the issue.
The former Turkish diplomat however was very clear and firm that such "safe zones" or any other "no-fly zones" in Syria should be set up only in cooperation with the Syrian government and upon the decision of the UN Security Council.
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