Agreement with US on Syrian safe zone ‘very good start’

By Sibel Morrow and Ali Murat Alhas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish foreign minister on Thursday called Wednesday’s talks with U.S. officials over the creation of a safe-zone in northern Syria a “very good start”.

"We can describe yesterday’s agreement a very good start,” Mevlut Cavusoglu told an Ankara press conference on the sidelines of the 11th Ambassadors’s Conference in Turkey's capital.

On Wednesday, Turkish military officials and their U.S. counterparts agreed that safe-zone in northern Syria would be a "peace corridor" for displaced Syrians longing to return home.

Also, both sides agreed on the immediate implementation of measures to address Turkey's security concern.

A Joint Operations Center in Turkey to coordinate and manage the establishment of the safe-zone was planned to be established during the meeting.

Meanwhile, Cavusoglu warned that Turkey will not allow the safe-zone efforts with the U.S. to suffer a stalling process like Manbij roadmap in Syria.

The Manbij deal between Turkey and the U.S. focuses on the withdrawal of YPG/PKK terrorists from the city to stabilize the region, which is located in the northern part of Syria’s Aleppo province.

YPG/PKK is the Syrian offshoot of terror group PKK, which has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people in Turkey, including many children, women, and infants, for more than 30 years.