ANKARA: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed Turkey would not allow the US to delay the establishment of a ‘safe zone’ in northern Syria, in comments published on Thursday.
Ankara and Washington earlier this month agreed after difficult talks to set up a buffer zone between the Turkish border and Syrian areas controlled by the US-backed Kurdish YPG militia.
The NATO allies agreed to set up a joint operations center which Turkey said at the weekend was at full capacity.
“We will never allow a delay similar to that in Manbij. The process should advance swiftly,” Erdogan said, according to CNN Turk broadcaster.
Turkey and the United States in May last year agreed a road map including the withdrawal of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) from Manbij in northern Syria.
“The agreement made with the US toward clearing the east of the Euphrates (river) from the YPG and setting up a safe zone is the right step,” Erdogan said after returning from talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He said the YPG was “pulling a trick in Manbij” and had not withdrawn. Turkey has repeatedly accused the US of delaying the previous deal.
Ankara says the YPG is a “terrorist” offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency inside Turkey since 1984.
The PKK is blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara, the US and the European Union.
But the US worked closely with the YPG in the fight against Daesh.
Turkey-US relations have been particularly tense over American support to the YPG but other issues remain, including the failure to extradite a Pennsylvania-based Muslim preacher blamed for the 2016 failed coup in Turkey.
But Erdogan said joint US-Turkey patrols would “start soon” as part of the latest agreement for northern Syria.
He said Turkish forces and armored vehicles were already at the border, adding: “We are in a position where we can do anything at any moment.”
Turkey repeatedly threatened to launch a third cross-border offensive in Syria against the YPG until the US-Turkey agreement.
Previous offensives by the Turkish military supporting Syrian rebels took place against Daesh in 2016 and against the YPG in early 2018.
Erdogan says won’t allow US to delay Syria ‘safe zone’
Erdogan says won’t allow US to delay Syria ‘safe zone’
- Turkey and US agreed to set up a buffer zone between the Turkish and Syria borders
- The agreement also stated that the Kurdish People’s Protection Units would withdraw
US envoy calls for ceasefire deal in northeastern Syria to be maintained
- Tom Barrack, ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy for Syria, reiterates Washington’s support for Jan. 18 integration agreement between Syria’s government and Syrian Democratic Forces
LONDON: Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy for Syria, on Monday reiterated Washington’s desire to ensure the ceasefire agreement in northeastern Syria between Syria’s government and the Syrian Democratic Forces continues.
In a message posted on social media platform X, he wrote: “Productive phone call this evening with his excellency Masoud Barzani to discuss the situation in Syria and the importance of maintaining the ceasefire and ensuring humanitarian assistance to those in need, especially in Kobani.”
Barzani has been the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party since 1979, and served as president of Kurdistan region between 2005 and 2017.
The current present, Nechirvan Barzani, previously welcomed a recent decree by the Syrian president, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, officially recognizing the Kurdish population as an integral part of the country.
Barrack reiterated Washington’s support for efforts to advance the Jan. 18 agreement between Syria’s government and the SDF to integrate the latter into state institutions. The SDF is a Kurdish-led faction led by Mazloum Abdi that operates in northeastern Syria and recently clashed with government forces.
On Saturday, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported that the Syrian Ministry of Defense had announced a 15-day extension of the ceasefire deal.
