A Turkish-US dispute over the safe area in Syria is public
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Washington is trying to derail the implementation of an agreement to establish a “safe area” in northern Syria, and has so far only taken formal action on it.
Speaking to reporters at a joint press conference with Montenegrin Foreign Minister Srdjan Darmanovic in Ankara on Tuesday, he said the US approach to implementing the “safe zone” agreement was not satisfactory and that the steps it had taken so far were just “formal”.
He added that Turkey has a plan ready and can clear these areas, stressing that “if we do not get results from cooperation with Washington, we will enter these areas (east of the Euphrates)”.
Cavusoglu pointed out that the United States did not abide by its commitments, especially the Manbij Roadmap, because of its involvement in relations with the organization “PKK, PYD”.
Earlier in the day, US and Turkish forces conducted their first joint patrols in the safe area east of the Euphrates in northern Syria.
Ankara and Washington recently reached an agreement on declaring a safe area in northern Syria.
According to the Turkish Defense Ministry, Turkey and the United States have agreed to establish a joint operations coordination center and a safe area in northern Syria.
