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Erdogan pledges to take ‘necessary steps’ on Syria after meeting with Putin

The meeting is set to take place in Russia’s resort city of Sochi on October 22

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Presidential Press Service via AP, Pool

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

© Presidential Press Service via AP, Pool

ANKARA, October 21. /TASS/. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will take "the necessary steps" on Syria following his meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, set to take place in Russia’s resort city of Sochi on October 22, as he himself said at an Istanbul forum on globalization.

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According to Erdogan, Ankara suspended Operation Peace Spring for 120 hours and the time is running out. "We will travel to Russia tomorrow. I will discuss the process with Mr. Putin, and then we will take the necessary steps," Erdogan said without going into detail.

On October 9, Turkey launched a military incursion into northern Syria, codenaming it Operation Peace Spring, with the Turkish Armed Forces and the Ankara-backed Free Syrian Army carrying it out. Erdogan’s military campaign kicked off with airstrikes on the positions of the previously US-backed Kurdish units. The Erdogan government claimed that its goal is to clear the border area of what it calls ‘terrorists’ (Turkey’s broad label of the Kurdish forces) and establish a 30 km-long buffer zone in Syria’s north, where over 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey would resettle. Ankara’s incursion into Syria has triggered an outcry in the region and across the world. The Syrian SANA news agency branded the operation as an act of aggression, while the international community condemned Erdogan’s military operation.

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