Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said on Tuesday that he had not yet received any acceptable plans from the United States for the creation of a “safe zone” in northeastern Syria, three weeks after the US President Donald Trump had suggested to establish the safe zone.
According to Reuters news reports, in a parliamentary meeting of his AK Party, Turkey’ president told the parliament: “There is no satisfactory plan that is put before us concretely yet. Of course, we are loyal to our agreements, our promise is a promise. But our patience is not limitless.”
Erdogan has said that Turkey wanted to set up a “safe zone” with the logistic assistance from its allies and also said it (zone) should be cleared of the US-backed Kurdish fighters YPG militia with Ankara considered it as a terrorist group in the region.
Erdogan has said Turkey did not need or even have asked anyone for the permission to implement such of its own plans in the region. He said that “no threat can make us turn from his oath, including a sanctions list.”
The safe zone will going to be an issue in a meeting on Wednesday in the US of its ministers from a coalition of the nations fighting ISIS and the Islamic State militant groups. Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will be attending the meeting.
On Tuesday, Erdogan has also said Ankara would only try to wait for some weeks from the militants to withdraw from the Syrian north town of Manbij. The US-backed SDF has been controlling Manbij since 2016.