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Area of Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring to preserve status quo — memorandum

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier signed a memorandum at the talks in Sochi

SOCHI, October 22. /TASS/. The current status quo in the area of Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring in northern Syria will be preserved, the memorandum signed on the outcomes of the talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan informs.

"In this framework, the established status quo in the current Operation Peace Spring area covering Tel Abyad and Ras Al Ayn with a depth of 32 km will be preserved," the document states.

The talks between Putin and Erdogan lasted for over six hours. The leaders discussed Operation Peace Spring, launched by Turkey on October 9. 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.

On October 17, the United States, represented by Vice President Mike Pence, reached a deal with Erdogan to pause Operation Peace Spring. Turkey consented to a 120-hour ceasefire so that Kurdish units making up the coalition of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) could leave the areas of the border security zone that Ankara is attempting to create.