Ozturk Yilmaz, a member of the Turkish parliament, told Sputnik that the recent memorandum reached by the leaders of Russia and Turkey is a breakthrough for the creation of the safe zone in northeastern Syria as well as relations between two countries
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd October, 2019) Ozturk Yilmaz, a member of the Turkish parliament, told Sputnik that the recent memorandum reached by the leaders of Russia and Turkey is a breakthrough for the creation of the safe zone in northeastern Syria as well as relations between two countries.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 an 18-mile zone on the border within 150 hours starting from Wednesday.
"This is a great breakthrough for the establishment of security zone for Turkey and that [also] boosted relations between Russia and Turkey as well," Yilmaz said.
He expressed confidence that the Kurdish militia would abandon northeastern Syria.
"The PKK fighters, of the terrorist organization, will definitely withdraw. If not, then Turkey is gonna launch operation as it was promised," he assured.
The parliamentarian suggested that some of the Syrian refugees currently residing in Turkey could be resettled in the safe zone, warning, however, that it would be a long process.
He added that the safe zone will be patrolled jointly by Turkey and Russia, and that Ankara was aware of Moscow's important role in the region.
"We believe that this common understanding would be helpful for both countries' security and also for friendship and further cooperation between two countries," Yilmaz concluded.
After the Turkish-Russian deal on Syria was finalized, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that it de facto stipulated an end to Turkey's Operation Peace Spring, which was launched in early October. Nevertheless, he stressed that much would depend on the future withdrawal of Kurdish militia from the border area.
