Russian military delegation in Ankara for Syria

ANKARA

A Russian military delegation has been holding talks in Ankara since Oct. 28 on the issue of a recent deal in northern Syria.

“The first day of the discussions was completed with the Russian military delegation, which came to Ankara to plan the activities to be carried out within the framework of the agreement reached with Russia on Oct. 22, 2019 in Sochi,” said the Defense Ministry on late Oct. 28.

The meeting would continue Oct. 29, it added.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Oct. 28 that withdrawal of the YPG group continues as part of a deal with Russia and the process is yet to finalize.

A Russian military delegation would visit Turkey to discuss both the pullout of the YPG 444 km from along the Turkish border into 30 km depth and the issue of planned joint patrols with Russian soldiers 10 kilometers in depth in northern Syria to prevent YPG infiltration to the cleared zone.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Oct. 22 agreed on a new accord for the creation of a safe zone in Syria’s north along the Turkish border.

According to the deal, the status quo in the “Operation Peace Spring” zone will be preserved.

In 150 hours, starting from Oct. 23 noon, all YPG militants will withdraw beyond the 30-kilometer line from the Turkish border with their guns and their fortifications will be destroyed.

Turkey launched “Operation Peace Spring” on Oct. 9 to eliminate terror groups from northern Syria in order to secure Turkey’s borders, aid the safe return of Syrian refugees and ensure Syria’s territorial integrity.

Having reached a ceasefire deal on Oct. 17, Ankara and the U.S. agreed on a 32-kilometer safe zone south of the Turkish border in Syria cleared from the YPG, where Turkey wants to accommodate more than 3 million refugees it is currently hosting.

The Ankara-Moscow memorandum followed the deal with the U.S. aiming the pullout of the YPG from the Turkish border area.