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Conflict in Syria

Turkey to establish safe zone in Syria in cooperation with Russia

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported earlier in the day that Kurdish units had withdrawn from the safe zone in northeastern Syria ahead of schedule

© AP Photo/Emrah Gurel

ANKARA, October 29. /TASS/. Turkey plans to establish a safe zone in northeastern Syria in the course of joint patrols with Russia, Turkey’s presidential communications director, Fahrettin Altun said on Tuesday upon the expiry of a 150-hour term given to the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) to withdraw their troops from the Syrian-Turkish border.

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Kurdish forces complete pullout from safety area in northeastern Syria — top brass

"Turkey and Russia had set a 150-hour deadline for YPG terrorists to leave the safe zone. The time is up. We will establish [the safe zone], through joint patrols, whether or not the terrorists have actually withdrawn," Fahrettin Altun wrote on his Twitter account.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported earlier in the day that Kurdish units had withdrawn from the safe zone in northeastern Syria ahead of schedule.

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. 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 Syrian refugees from Turkey would resettle.

On October 22, Russian and Turkish Presidents, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, signed a memorandum on joint actions in northeastern Syria. Under the arrangement, the Russian military police and Syrian military were to be moved into the areas bordering the zone of Turkey’s operation in Syria as of noon of October 23. The Kurdish forces had 150 hours to vacate the 30-kilometer wide strip of land along the Turkish border. After that Russian and Turkish forces are to begin joint patrols.

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Syrian conflict

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