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Turkish forces bomb a Kurdish position on the Syrian border. REUTERS / ReutersTV

A delayed appointment. On Thursday, members of the Security Council met in an emergency and in camera to discuss the Turkish offensive in northeastern Syria. They have failed to come up with a common position, but all hope does not seem to be lost yet.

From our correspondent at the UN, Carrie Nooten

At first, there was some dissension within the Security Council: only Europeans and Americans reacted to the outcome of their meeting, but in two separate statements.

The five European countries on the Council that seized it, as well as Estonia, which will soon join them, expressed deep concern and called on Ankara to end its offensive . As for the US representative Kelly Kraft, she did not condemn, but strongly demarcated the US position of the Turkish offensive, claiming again that no green light had been given to Erdogan by Donald Trump.

Unanimity?

But a few minutes earlier, in camera, she had also proposed a text to her counterparts calling on Turkey to return to diplomacy. A solution that suits almost all member countries, but Russia has asked for more time to refer to Moscow, and it is finally this Friday that we will know if unanimity is obtained.

For the moment, it is the preferred path of the Europeans, who do not want to offend Erdogan, and risk that he will carry out his threat of releasing three and a half million refugees at the gates of Europe.

The American Senate, a solution ?

In the United States, outrage is still high after Donald Trump's unilateral decision to leave the field open to the Turks in Syria for an offensive against the Kurds. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, normally a close associate of the US president, along with his Democratic colleague, Chris Van Hollen, on Wednesday introduced a text proposal to the Senate. This one aims to punish Turkey very severely if she does not withdraw her army from Syria. The project would force Donald Trump's government to freeze US property from Turkey's top leaders, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defense, Finance, Trade and Energy . Does this proposal have a chance to succeed? Listen to Philippe Golub, professor of international relations at the American University of Paris.

There are a number of senators who consider that the abandonment of the Kurds (...) is deeply immoral

Philippe Golub, Professor of International Relations 11/10/2019 - by Stefanie Schüler Listen