*SOCHI: *Russia and Turkey have agreed to ensure Kurdish forces withdrawfrom areas close to Syria’s border with Turkey and to launch joint patrols,in a deal hailed as “historic” by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
After marathon talks in Russia’s southern city of Sochi, Erdogan and hisRussian counterpart Vladimir Putin announced the deal late Tuesday justhours ahead of a deadline for Turkey to restart its assault on SyrianKurdish forces.
As the evening deadline passed, Turkey said there was “no need” to relaunchthe offensive. The agreement cements Russia and Turkey’s roles as the mainforeign players in Syria, after US President Donald Trump announced thewithdrawal of American forces from the country’s north earlier this month.
That announcement cleared the way for Turkey to launch a cross-bordermilitary push on October 9 against the Kurdish YPG militia, viewed byAnkara as “terrorists” linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party(PKK).[image: Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with his Turkish counterpartRecep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi. PHOTO: AFP]
Turkey has seized control of a “safe zone” inside Syria about 120kilometres long (75 miles) and 32 kilometres deep.
Tuesday’s agreement with Moscow will see it preserve that zone between thetowns of Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain, giving Ankara a crucial presence insidethe country.
From noon (0900 GMT) on Wednesday, Russian military police and Syrianborder guards will “facilitate the removal” of Kurdish fighters and theirweapons from within 30 kilometres (18 miles) of the border.
This withdrawal must be finalised within 150 hours, according to a text ofthe agreement released after the talks. Russian and Turkish forces willthen begin joint patrols along the Turkish-controlled zone.
In the early hours of Wednesday, Turkey said it had been informed by the USthat their withdrawal from the border areas had been “completed”.
“At this stage, there is no further need to carry out a new operation,” thedefence ministry said in a statement.
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Putin said the decisions were “very important, if not crucial, to allowingus to resolve the acute situation on the Syrian-Turkish border.”[image: Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with his Turkish counterpartRecep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi. PHOTO: AFP]
In a phone call to the Russian leader, Syrian President Bashar al-Assadsaid in reference to the Kurds that “those with separatist designs wereresponsible for what events have come to”.
However, he also stressed “his complete refusal of any invasion of Syrianland under any name or pretext”, Syrian state news agency SANA said. Assadhas repeatedly said he will eventually restore government control over allparts of Syria.
After decades of marginalisation, Syria’s Kurds have largely stayed out ofthe country’s eight-year civil war, instead building their own institutionsin the northeast of the country – but they insist they never wantedsecession.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, saidthe area of the “safe zone” was calm late Tuesday.
Erdogan had earlier threatened to resume Ankara’s military offensiveagainst Kurdish forces in Syria if they did not withdraw as agreed under aUS-brokered deal.
A deadline for the withdrawal expired at 1900 GMT on Tuesday, with aKurdish official telling AFP they had “fully complied” ahead of thedeadline.
The Turkish operation “is ending, and everything will depend now on theimplementation of these agreements,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrovsaid in Sochi. -APP/AFP
