Turkey is certain that Russia will fulfill its part of the recently reached agreement on the situation in northern Syria and will keep the region free from Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara designates as terrorists, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday
ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd October, 2019) Turkey is certain that Russia will fulfill its part of the recently reached agreement on the situation in northern Syria and will keep the region free from Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara designates as terrorists, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, adopted on Tuesday a memorandum to resolve the situation on the Syrian-Turkish border in light of Ankara's offensive targeting the Kurdish militia. Under the document, Russian military police and Syrian border guards will facilitate the withdrawal of Kurdish militia from a 18-mile zone on the border within 150 hours starting from Wednesday.
"Concerning YPG terrorists, Putin said that Russia and [the Syrian] regime would not allow for them [to remain in the territory]. ... Russia surely will not allow for it, we do not doubt this," Erdogan said in an interview with the Turkish Anadolu news outlet.
Erdogan added that he was not fully sure about Syria's guarantees though.
"If [the Kurds] do not leave [the territory], we will do everything necessary," the Turkish president concluded.
Earlier on Wednesday, Russia's military police deployed in Syria's northern province of Aleppo, said it had began patrolling an area near the Turkish border, where US troops were previously stationed, but withdrew following the launch of Turkey's offensive.
Turkey launched its offensive against Kurdish militias, viewed by Ankara as terrorists, on October 9 after its talks with the United States on a "safe zone" in the border area collapsed. The Turkish military operation has faced widespread condemnation from across the globe, with Damascus slamming it as a violation of its sovereignty and deploying troops to the northeast of the Arab republic to help Kurds repel the offensive.
