UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th September, 2019) United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen told Sputnik that interests of all communities in the northeastern Syria must be respected amid the plans of Ankara and Washington to establish a safe zone in the area.
"As I already said, territorial integrity and independence and then legitimate security concerns of Turkey need to be taken into account and then we need also to see, and that is point number three, that interests of all of the communities in this area are respected," the envoy noted.
When asked about his position on the US-Turkey safe zone in Syria, Pedersen said that "we need to respect Syria's sovereignty."
Ankara and Washington agreed on August 7 to work on the creation of the safe zone along Syria's border with Turkey and the establishment of a joint US-Turkish operations center to coordinate the efforts.
Turkey considers Kurdish militias operating in northern Syria as a threat to its security. Meanwhile, the United States has been supporting the groups with various measuring, including providing weapons to them.
The Syrian government has decried the safe zone deal between Turkey and the United States, calling both countries occupiers.
