Russia urges YPG/PKK to leave Turkish-Syrian border

MOSCOW-Anadolu Agency

Russia urged on Nov. 26 the YPG/PKK to fulfill its obligations regarding weapons and terrorists withdrawal from northern Syria.

Speaking at a news conference in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov advised the SDF -- another name used by the terrorist organization YPG/PKK -- "to follow their own word" of "full cooperation" and to implement their part of the Oct. 22 Russian-Turkish memorandum on northern Syria.

Lavrov said right after Moscow and Ankara reached an agreement on the settlement in northern Syria, the YPG/PKK agreed to pull out their weapons and troops 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from the Turkish-Syrian border, but "lost enthusiasm" for cooperation when the U.S. announced their intention to stay in Syria "to protect oil fields".

"When the U.S. changed its position, and said that they had left Syria, forgetting that it was necessary to protect the oil fields, the leadership of the same Kurds immediately lost enthusiasm for cooperation on the implementation of the Sochi agreement and again began to rely on the patronage of the U.S.," the minister said.

Lavrov warned that such a position would bring "no good," and advised the YPG/PKK "to be consistent and not to try to engage in rather questionable activities on an opportunistic basis".