ANKARA: Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Friday that joint patrols with the United States would begin on Sunday in northeastern Syria in the area marked out to become a “safe zone”.
“We are planning to start joint patrols on September 8,” he told reporters.
An agreement reached on August 7 between Ankara and Washington aims to establish the safe zone between the Turkish border and the Syrian areas east of the Euphrates river controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia, which is an ally of the US but seen as a terrorist organization by Turkey.
Akar said Turkish and US soldiers had flown three helicopter reconnaissance missions over the area in recent days.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week repeated his threat to launch an operation against the YPG in Syria unless progress was made on setting up the safe zone. Turkey has repeatedly warned against any delay in the project.
No details on the timeframe and size for the zone have been made public, although Erdogan said his US counterpart Donald Trump had promised it would be 32 kilometers (20 miles) wide.
A joint center of operations was recently established as part of the agreement.
It has twice launched cross-border operations into Syria against the YPG and Daesh, in 2016 and 2018.
Turkish-US land patrols in Syria to start on Sept. 8
Turkish-US land patrols in Syria to start on Sept. 8
- The two NATO allies are working to establish what Turkey says will be a “safe zone” along the border in northeast Syria
- Akar said Turkish and US soldiers had flown three helicopter reconnaissance missions over the area in recent days
’We can’t make ends meet’: civil servants protest in Ankara
- Some 800 civil servants from the Confederation of Public Employees’ Unions joined a march to the labor ministry
- “The increase in rents is almost three times higher than the pay rise we received,” Kocak told demonstrators
ANKARA: Hundreds of angry civil servants marched through Ankara Wednesday demanding a realistic pay rise as they battle poverty amid the soaring prices and double-digit inflation.
Some 800 civil servants from the Confederation of Public Employees’ Unions (KESK) joined a march to the labor ministry in the Turkish capital, carrying banners demanding an immediate pay rise.
“The increase in rents is almost three times higher than the pay rise we received, meaning our salaries are not even enough to cover the rent increases alone,” Ayfer Kocak, KESK’s co-chair, told demonstrators outside the ministry.
“We are experiencing growing poverty and insecurity.”
Turkiye’s annual inflation rate fell to 30.89 percent in December from 44.38 percent a year earlier, official figures showed, but independent economists and unions say real numbers remain much higher.
According to December figures released by the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (TURK-IS), the absolute minimum needed to feed a family of four was just over 30,000 liras ($690).
At the same time, Turkiye’s poverty threshold — the sum required to cover the basic needs for a family of that size — had risen to 98,000 liras ($2,270), it said.
Food inflation approached 43 percent annually, it added.
- ‘We can’t make ends meet’ -
“The government is condemning civil servants to live in degrading conditions by relying on misleading data” from the official statistics agency TUIK, Tulay Yildirim, head of a local teachers’ union branch, told AFP.
“We workers’ voices to be heard, saying we can no longer make ends meet and want to receive our fair share of a budget created through taxes paid by all citizens,” she added.
Earlier this month, public sector wages were hiked by 18.6 percent for the next six months, an increase unions said was insufficient.
“There are not only workers here, but also pensioners. The salary increase granted falls below the poverty line,” said Osman Seheri, head of a local branch of the municipal workers’ union.
“We cannot even afford proper clothes to go to work, let alone a suit and tie. With such wages, it is impossible to live in a major city.”
According to the independent Inflation Research Group (ENAG), which challenges the official data, annual inflation in Turkiye reached 56.14 percent in December 2025, with prices rising 2.11 percent in December alone.
