Turkey says it told U.S. that Kurdish militants must leave Syria

The US envoy for Syria was in Ankara on Tuesday to discuss the latest developments in Syria
Wednesday, 05 September 2018 19:55

Ankara told Washington on Tuesday that U.S.-backed Kurdish YPG militants must completely abandon Syria, the Turkish defence ministry said.

The US envoy for Syria was in Ankara on Tuesday to discuss the latest developments in Syria with Turkish officials as an operation against jihadi-held Idlib appeared imminent.

During talks in Ankara on Tuesday, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar told U.S. special representative for Syria, James Jeffrey, that Ankara wanted Kurdish militants to fully abandon the region, the ministry said in a statement.

It said Akar and Jeffrey also discussed recent developments in Syria and the minister conveyed Turkey's discomfort with the presence of Kurdish militants in the region.

Akar and Jeffrey met as Russian warplanes battered Idlib for the first time in three weeks.

The request comes as Turkish and U.S. forces are carrying out joint patrols in the northwestern Syrian city of Manbij as part of a roadmap to clear the area of YPG militants.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday expressed his dissatisfaction with delays in implementation of the Turkish-US agreements on the northern Syria city of Manbij.

"I cannot characterize the situation around Manbij as satisfactory. Implementation of the agreement is being delayed. Unfortunately, the process is not developing in a proper direction. Heads of our [Turkish and US] foreign and defense ministries will hold the talks and I hope on some progress," Erdoğan told reporters.