JD: It was a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Tayyip Erdogan there in Russia. And the President of Russia caused Erdogan President of Turkey to say “ok I’ll stand down, I’ll shut down this operation against the Kurds”. Now do you think that’s going to be a long-term situation or could Turkey actually break that cease-fire in the very near future?
KT: Well Jimmy I think Erdogan is likely to respect this cease-fire because Vladimir Putin who brokered the deal does not have to answer to an opposition, he does not have to answer to the media. And clearly the Russians are on their way back into the Middle East. This has been Putin’s strategy since 2015 when he first deployed troops and his air force into Syria. So this meeting in Sochi where Erdogan agreed to a second cease bar I think is strategically important. Now we see the two of them coming together. So I think this is a very very important development. You’re going to have Turkish troops with Russian troops side by side in Syria and the Iranians not far away.
JD: Well it looks like Russia, Turkey and Syria they’re somewhat on the same page. How long do you think that can happen?
KT: That’s what we’re going to see in the coming weeks is this Turkish incursion and their cooperation with the Russians and the Syrians moving back. Now this is also a side of this that doesn’t get a lot of discussion. There will be Syrian troops there now for the first time since 2012. The Kurds have agreed to that because they don’t want Turkey to come in. I think the Turks are going to stay there as long as they possibly can. And they told us they’re going to try to ethnically cleanness those areas and bring in Syrian-Arab Muslims to replace the Kurdish population that has fled.
JD: Ken Timmerman revealing how Russia’s Vladimir Putin is positioning himself to take political control of the Middle East.
