ANKARA, November 12. /TASS/. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he would like to hold telephone talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin after his two-day visit to the United States.
"Neither Russia nor the United States have managed to clear [territories in northeastern Syria] of terrorist organizations within the established deadline. We will discuss this issue [with President Donald] Trump. Upon return [from the United States] we will hold telephone talks with Putin," Erdogan told a news conference at Ankara’s airport before flying to the United States.
Erdogan said that the United States "has failed to comply with all of the achieved agreements on creating a security zone" in Syria.
Erdogan argues that the Kurdish People’s Protection Units have not pulled out of Syria’s cities Manbij, Tell Rifaat, Tell Abyad and Kamisli. He described that as a violation of agreements achieved with the United States and Russia.
On October 9, Ankara launched an operation codenamed Peace Spring in northern Syria with the aim to create a security belt long the Turkish border. On October 22, the Russian and Turkish presidents at a meeting in Sochi adopted a memorandum on joint actions to settle the situation in northeastern Syria. According to the deal Russian military police and Syrian border guards entered areas bordering on Turkey’s 30-kilometer-wide security zone. On October 29, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said the Kurds had completed the pullout of their military units. On November 1 Russian and Turkish military started joint patrols east of the Euphrates.