© via Reuters
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a phone call on Sunday that Kurdish forces must be “cleaned” from northern Syria.
gjssource: BELGA
“It is important and a priority to clean the border area, at least 30 kilometers deep, according to the 2019 Sochi memorandum,” Erdogan said, referring to Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.
The Turkish leader has been threatening since November with a military ground operation in northern Syria to expel Kurdish fighters from the People’s Protection Units. Ankara accuses them of being behind the November 13 attack in Istanbul. Six people were killed in that attack. The Kurds deny any involvement.
security zone
In 2019, an agreement between Russia and Turkey ended an earlier Turkish offensive. At the time, it had promised to create a 30-kilometer “safety zone” along the border to protect Turkey from attacks from Syria. Similar agreements exist in the agreement between Ankara and Washington.
Turkey accuses Russia and the United States of not adhering to these agreements.
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