Dempsey to visit Turkey for Syria talks
Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will visit Turkey during the coming week, the E-Ring has learned, where he is expected to meet with military officials to discuss Syrian instability, Afghanistan and other issues. Dempsey follows visits by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last month, in addition reportedly to other senior ...
Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will visit Turkey during the coming week, the E-Ring has learned, where he is expected to meet with military officials to discuss Syrian instability, Afghanistan and other issues.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will visit Turkey during the coming week, the E-Ring has learned, where he is expected to meet with military officials to discuss Syrian instability, Afghanistan and other issues.
Dempsey follows visits by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last month, in addition reportedly to other senior intelligence officials looking at what options are available to them in Syria.
But Dempsey’s visit will focus on military officials, including General Necdet Özel, chief of the Turkish General Staff, who have been the object of international scrutiny over how well they are working with Turkey’s civilian leaders to address the Syrian crisis. The two sides have clashed over control of the government in recent years, and the Turkish public is not clamoring for direct intervention.
Instead, the long border with Syria has become a growing concern for Turkish officials, who on Monday, joined Egyptian, Iranian and Saudi officials in Cairo for four-party talks on Syria.
Turkey is increasing its calls for NATO to establish safe zones inside of Syria to alleviate the burden of an estimated 80,000 refugees that have crossed into Turkey. But NATO officials including Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Deputy Secretary-General Alexander "Sandy" Vershbow have steadily dismissed the idea. Two weeks ago, Vershbow said NATO was not even contemplating military options in Syria because no member nation had yet to request them.
Safe zones may provide ground havens for fleeing refugees. But whether President Bashar al-Assad agreed to them or not, they would require enforcement from above, in the form of no-fly zones patrolled by NATO war planes willing to strike Syrian air defenses, and from ships at sea in support of that mission.
Turkish troops also would be drawn into enforcing a new conflict line — the entire border with Syria.
In short, safe zones require a sharp increase in military activity the U.S. so far has been unwilling to offer.
Recently, pressure has increased in France to persuade President Francois Hollande to lead a coalition against U.S. wishes in support of rebels in Syria, which has ties to France.
According to Dempsey’s spokesman, the chairman will first travel to Sibiu, Romania this week for the 2012 NATO Military Committee Conference, a gathering of military representatives to NATO from each country. He then flies to Ankara.
UPDATE: Col. David Lapan, Dempsey’s spokesman, tells the E-Ring there are no changes "at this point" to the chairman’s Middle East travel schedule for this weekend following the deployment of Marines to Libya following the attack against U.S. installations there and elsewhere.
Kevin Baron is a national security reporter for Foreign Policy, covering defense and military issues in Washington. He is also vice president of the Pentagon Press Association. Baron previously was a national security staff writer for National Journal, covering the "business of war." Prior to that, Baron worked in the resident daily Pentagon press corps as a reporter/photographer for Stars and Stripes. For three years with Stripes, Baron covered the building and traveled overseas extensively with the secretary of defense and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, covering official visits to Afghanistan and Iraq, the Middle East and Europe, China, Japan and South Korea, in more than a dozen countries. From 2004 to 2009, Baron was the Boston Globe Washington bureau's investigative projects reporter, covering defense, international affairs, lobbying and other issues. Before that, he muckraked at the Center for Public Integrity. Baron has reported on assignment from Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and the South Pacific. He was won two Polk Awards, among other honors. He has a B.A. in international studies from the University of Richmond and M.A. in media and public affairs from George Washington University. Originally from Orlando, Fla., Baron has lived in the Washington area since 1998 and currently resides in Northern Virginia with his wife, three sons, and the family dog, The Edge. Twitter: @FPBaron
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