Erdogan putting his eyes on northern Syria’s oil

Rubeir al-Fares

The value of the Turkish lira is collapsing in an unprecedented manner. This is why Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is searching for solutions everywhere.

He wants to take the oil produced in northern Syria’s wells and use its revenues in bankrolling the establishment of a safe zone along his country’s border with Syria. This comes as Erdogan claimed earlier that Turkey was the only country that did not want to steal the Syrian oil.

Erdogan said he told Russian President, Vladimir Putin, that his country could manage the oilfields in the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zur instead of leaving them for the Kurds, describing them as “terrorists”.

He added that Putin is considering this Turkish demand and that he may demand the same thing from U.S. President, Donald Trump.

Erdogan met Putin last week in Moscow and agreed with him on a ceasefire in Idlib. However, details of his agreements with the Russian leader are not clear yet.

On February 29, Erdogan said during a meeting with his country’s lawmakers that Turkey does not seek to make any adventures in Syria or expand its border.

Turkey, he said, only wants to create a 30-kilometer buffer zone in northern Syria to house the refugees.

He asked the government of Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, not to be worried.

In December 2019, suggested the creation of a buffer zone in northern Syria, even as the European Union did not offer enough support to the implementation of the zone.

He called for using revenues from oil extracted from wells in the area in constructing homes and schools for the refugees.

Erdogan now encourages the refugees to cross to the Greek border to put pressure on Europe to offer him financial and military support.

Turkey insists on using the refugees as a pressure card on Europe, according to Bloomberg.

It said the use of this card causes tensions in relations between Ankara and other European capitals.