Washington and Ankara have both called for Assad to go The United States and Turkey are reviewing how to help Syria if pro-democracy protests drive President Bashar Al-Assad from power.U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Sunday from Turkish capital Ankara that the two allies have not discussed concrete “next steps.”
The two countries have both called for Assad to go, but worry it could deepen instability in a region already rocked by the Arab Spring, especially as U.S. troops leave Iraq by the end of the month.
Biden, in an interview with reporters travelling with him to Athens from Istanbul, said the collapse of the Assad regime would not necessarily spark a wider regional sectarian conflict, which some see pitting the Sunni-dominated west of neighboring Iraq against Shiites in that country and in Iran.
“There was a sense in our discussions that it would be able to be handled without any conflagration going beyond Syria, and that it could be localized to Syria,” said Biden, of his meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday, according to Reuters.
Turkey has joined the Arab League in imposing tough sanctions on Syria, once a close friend, in response to Assad’s bloody crackdown on protests, and has talked openly about the need to be ready for any scenario, including setting up a buffer zone to contain any mass influx of refugees.
Humanitarian corridor
France has separately talked about a “humanitarian corridor” to help civilians caught in the violence that has killed more than 4,000 people, according to the U.N. estimates.
Biden, speaking to reporters in his private cabin on Air Force Two, said the issue of a buffer zone had not come up in his two-hour meeting with Erdogan.
“To the extent we talked about any ‘what-next’ steps, there were generic discussions about having to go in and provide some help and possibly economic assistance and stability, not militarily, but helping the Syrians,” Biden said. “We’re in this to see Assad come down and then determine what would be the most helpful thing for the international community to do to establish stability in that country.”