Turkey Assured US That Refugee Return To Northeast Syria To Be Conducted With UN - Jeffrey

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th November, 2019) Turkey has assured the United States that the return of refugees in the northeast Syria will be done in conjunction with the United Nations, US Special Representative for Syria Engagement James Jeffrey told reporters on Thursday.

"I was just in Ankara," Jeffrey said. "Here is what we got from the Turks: (1) Any movement of people back into northeastern Syria will be a return of people from the area and it will done in conjunction with the UNHCR and under the UNHCR rules of safe, dignified and voluntary return. The Turks have been in touch with the UNHCR on this."

Jeffrey said the assurance was part of the Global Coalition to Defeat the Islamic State Small Group communique signed earlier on Thursday.

"This was part of our communique that they signed up to a few hours ago and it also is cited indirectly in paragraphs 3, 4 and 7 of our October 17 communique - or statement with the Turks - about that area where we did the ceasefire," Jeffrey said. "I raised this repeatedly with the Turkish government when I was out there last week."

Jeffrey said Turkey has pointed out correctly that there is a large number of refugees estimated at 350,000, which includes not only Kurdish civilians, but also members of the Kurdish militias as well as the Islamic State terror group (outlawed in Russia).

On October 9, Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring in northeastern Syria to clear the area of Kurdish militia and Islamic State terrorists. The United States and Turkey came to an agreement on October 17 for a 120-hour ceasefire in the area to allow the withdrawal of the Kurdish fighters.

As the five-day ceasefire came to an end, Turkey and Russia reached a deal that would see the Kurdish fighters pull back from the Syrian border area with Turkey. In addition, Moscow and Ankara have begun joint patrols in the operation zone along the Turkish border.