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Turkey says new US proposals on Syria safe zone are 'unsatisfactory'

Yenişafak English
14:12 - 24/07/2019 Wednesday
Update: 15:01 - 24/07/2019 Wednesday
FILE PHOTO: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu attends a news conference in Riga, Latvia May 16, 2019. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu attends a news conference in Riga, Latvia May 16, 2019. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins/File Photo

New proposals by the U.S. to establish a safe zone in Syria do not satisfy Turkey, the country's foreign minister said Wednesday.

"We need to reach an agreement with the U.S. on the safe zone as soon as possible; we have run out of patience," Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said in capital Ankara after three days of talks between Turkish and U.S. delegations.

Cavuşoğlu also said that the establishment of a Syrian constitutional committee, a long-awaited step in stalled efforts to resolve Syria's eight-year civil war, could be announced in coming days.


Earlier this week, Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and James Jeffrey, the U.S. envoy to Syria, met in the capital Ankara and exchanged views. Military officials from both sides gathered on Wednesday and further discussed the issue of a safe zone in northern Syria.

Last Friday, Akar told acting U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper: “The only military force that is ready, competent, and appropriate for the establishment of a safe zone in northern Syria is the Turkish Armed Forces.”

Esper was confirmed as defense secretary on Tuesday.

Since 2016, Turkey has conducted two major military operations in northwestern Syria -- Operations Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch -- to purge the region of terrorist groups Daesh and the YPG, which is the Syrian branch of the terrorist organization PKK.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including many women, children, and infants.


#Turkey
#Syria
#Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu
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