Russia, Turkey reach historic deal

ANKARA: Russia and Turkey have agreed to ensure Kurdish forces withdraw from areas close to Syria’s border with Turkey and to launch joint patrols, in a deal hailed as “historic” by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

After marathon talks in Russia’s southern city of Sochi, Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin announced the deal late Tuesday, just hours ahead of a deadline for Turkey to restart its assault on Syrian Kurdish forces.

As the evening deadline passed, Turkey said there was “no need” to relaunch the offensive.

The agreement cements Russia and Turkey’s roles as the main foreign players in Syria, after US President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of American forces from the country’s north earlier this month.

That announcement cleared the way for Turkey to launch a cross- border military push on October 9 against the Kurdish YPG militia, viewed by Ankara as “terrorists” linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Turkey has seized control of a “safe zone” inside Syria about 120 kilometers long and 32 km deep. Tuesday’s agreement with Moscow will see it preserve that zone between the towns of Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain, giving Ankara a crucial presence inside the country.

From noon on Wednesday, Russian military police and Syrian border guards will “facilitate the

their weapons from within 30 km of the border.

- ised within 150 hours, according to a text of the agreement released after the talks.

Russian and Turkish forces will then begin joint patrols along the Turkish- controlled zone. In the early hours of Wednesday, Turkey said it had been informed by the US that their withdrawal from the border areas had been “completed.’’

“At this stage, there is no further need to carry out a new operation,” the defense ministry said in a statement.

Putin said the decisions were “very important, if not crucial, to allowing us to resolve the acute situation on the SyrianTurkish border.”

In a phone call to the Russian leader, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in reference to the Kurds that “those with separatist designs were responsible for what events have come to.”

But he also stressed “his complete refusal of any invasion of Syrian land under any name or ington official said the United States is counting on Turkey and