Turkey, US agreement on Syria safe zone ‘positive step’

By Gozde Bayar

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s agreement with the U.S. on safe zone in northern Syria is a positive step, a Turkish presidential aide said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reports in the capital Ankara, Ibrahim Kalin said negotiations with the U.S. on the implementation, process and scope of the safe zone is still ongoing.

Kalin stressed that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will speak with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the phone over Idlib in next couple of days.

He said the closure or shifting of location of the 9th observation point is “out of question”.

Turkey and Russia agreed last September to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone where acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

The Syrian regime and its allies, however, have consistently broken the terms of the cease-fire, launching frequent attacks inside the de-escalation zone.

The zone is currently inhabited by about 4 million civilians, including hundreds of thousands of people displaced in recent years by regime forces from cities and towns throughout the war-weary country.