Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says Turkish AKP government will not withdraw from zones it controls in Syria until its people hold an election.
Erdoğan made the comment in Istanbul on Thursday at the closing of an international forum.
"Whenever the people of Syria hold their election - after the election is when we would leave Syria to its owners and withdraw," he said.
Ankara agreed with Moscow last month to set up a demilitarized zone between jihadists and Syrian forces in northern Syria. It also has a presence in the northwest Afrin region and further east, around Jarablus.
