ISTANBUL (AP/AFP) –
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for a 30-kilometer (19-mile) security corridor on Turkey’s border with Syria in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Erdogan’s office said Sunday.
Referring to Kurdish militants that Ankara considers terrorists, Erdogan reiterated the “importance and urgency” of creating the corridor in northern Syria in accordance with a 2019 agreement between Turkey and Russia, the statement added.
The call came three weeks after Turkey launched air and artillery strikes in Syria and Iraq in response to a bomb attack in Istanbul on Nov. 13 that killed six people and wounded dozens. The Turkish government has blamed the bombing on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and its affiliate in Syria the so-called People’s Protection Units, or YPG.
Both groups have denied involvement in the attack.
The PKK has waged a 38-year insurgency against Turkey that has led to the loss of tens of thousands of lives. It is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. The YPG, however, is not designated as a terror group by Washington or Brussels.
A 2019 agreement between Moscow and Ankara ended an operation by setting up a 30-kilometre “safe zone” to protect Turkey against cross-border attacks from Syrian territory.
Erdogan accuses Russia of failing to follow through on the deal.
Some of the Kurdish forces are stationed in areas under Russian military control.
The Kremlin confirmed the 2019 agreement was discussed in the call.
“The two countries’ defence and foreign services will maintain close contacts in this regard,” a Kremlin statement said.
Both Moscow and Washington have been putting diplomatic pressure on Ankara not to launch a new ground campaign.
Turkey has been pummeling Kurdish positions near the border with artillery fire and drone strikes since November 20 in response to the bomb blast.
But it has not yet poured in any major forces to support ones it already has stationed in the area.