ANKARA (AA): Turkey’s chief of general staff and his U.S. counterpartdiscussed a safe zone in Syria along Turkey’s border on the sidelines of aNATO conference in Slovenia, the Turkish Defense Ministry said Saturday.
Yasar Guler and Joseph Dunford held a bilateral meeting in capitalLjubljana where a two-day NATO Military Committee Conference is being helduntil Sept. 15, the ministry said in a statement.
The Turkish military chief shared Turkey’s expectations about the safe zoneeast of Euphrates in Syria, a recent hot topic between the U.S. and Turkey.
Ankara attaches importance to the safe zone in terms of its fight againstYPG/PKK terror groups.
On Aug. 7, Turkish and U.S. military officials agreed to set up a safe zonein northern Syria and develop a peace corridor to facilitate the movementof displaced Syrians who want to return home. They also agreed to establisha joint operations center.
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The agreement also envisaged setting up necessary security measures toaddress Turkey’s security concerns, including clearing the zone of theterrorist YPG/PKK, a group the U.S. has sometimes been allied with, despiteTurkey’s objections.
In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK — listedas a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU — has beenresponsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women andchildren. The YPG is the group’s Syrian branch.
Guler and Dunford also discussed some NATO security issues, the ministryadded.
