Nkara wants to maintain coordination with Moscow and Tehran during the withdrawal of the US troops from Syria in light of certain difficulties entailed in the process, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday
ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th January, 2019) Ankara wants to maintain coordination with Moscow and Tehran during the withdrawal of the US troops from Syria in light of certain difficulties entailed in the process, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday.
On December 19, US President Donald Trump said that the US forces would be pulled out from Syria since the Islamic State terrorist group (IS, banned in Russia) had been defeated there. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said later in December that the United States began the pullout of its forces from Syria, stressing that the troops' withdrawal did not mean the end of the coalition to fight the IS terrorist group.
"We see that the United States has certain difficulties with the pullout of its forces from Syria. Close ties with terrorist structures led the United States to difficulties in severing contacts with them. We would like to be in contact with Russia during [this process] as well as with Iran, which is one of the active players in the region, whether some like it or not," Cavusoglu said as quoted by Turkey's NTV broadcaster.
The Turkish foreign minister has also touched upon the implementation of the Russian-Turkish agreement on the creation of a demilitarized zone in the Syrian province of Idlib reached by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in September.
"Certain challenges occur on the horizon, but we are capable of addressing them," Cavusoglu stated.
Turkey, which is a guarantor of the ceasefire in Syria along with Russia and Iran, has recently been focused on the fate of US-backed Kurdish militia and the attendant difficulties in light of Washington's decision to withdraw its troops from Syria. Turkey, in particular, insists that Washington should ensure the withdrawal of Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), viewed by the Turkish authorities as an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, listed as a terrorist organization in the country, from the Syrian area of Manbij located near the border with Turkey.
