Erdogan, Johnson Discuss Pause Of Operation In Syria Over Phone - Turkish Presidency

ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th October, 2019) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had a phone conversation on Sunday to discuss the implementation of the Turkish-US agreement under which Ankara had committed to temporarily halt its military operation in Kurd-populated north Syria, the presidential press service of Turkey informed.

On Thursday, the United States and Turkey announced concluding a deal which would have Turkey suspend its military operation, dubbed Peace Spring, for 120 hours for the Kurdish forces to leave the area within an 18-mile so-called safe zone, which Ankara intends to control unilaterally. Despite the deal, both Ankara and the Kurds have reported violation of the truce by the rival side.

"President [Erdogan] has underlined during phone talks with the UK prime minister that Turkey closely monitors the withdrawal of members of the PKK/YPG terrorist organization [Kurdistan Workers' Party and Kurdish People's Protection Units] from the safe zone, as well as of them handing over the military hardware and demolishing the defensive fortifications within the time frame envisaged by the US-Turkish agreement," the statement read.

According to the text, the sides have also discussed the bilateral UK-Turkish relations.�

Operation Peace Spring in northern Syria began on October 9. The offensive is part of Ankara's goal to clear its Syria-facing border area of Islamic State terrorist organization (banned in Russia) and Kurdish militia and create a safe zone where Turkey could relocate part of more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees it currently hosts.

The UK was among those countries which had openly criticized Turkey due to its offensive and subsequently embargoed arms exports to Ankara.