Turkey, Russia set patrols to observe Kurdish pullout

ISTANBUL — Joint Turkish-Russian patrols will begin Friday in northeastern Syria, after a Russian-brokered cease-fire that promised to have Syrian Kurdish forces withdraw to the south, Turkey’s president said Wednesday.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his ruling party that Turkey won’t hesitate to restart its operation if the Kurdish fighters do not abandon the 19-mile deep area or continue their attacks against Turkish troops. He said Turkey will “respond in the harshest way to any attacks” and that “if needed, we will expand our safe zone.”

Turkey invaded northeastern Syria earlier this month to push Syrian Kurdish fighters from the area. Ankara considers them terrorists linked to an insurgency in Turkey.

The cease-fire allowing the Syrian Kurdish forces to withdraw has largely held, despite occasional clashes. Russia informed Turkey of the withdrawal of some 34,000 fighters along with 3,260 heavy weapons, Erdogan said, including from Tal Rifaat and Manbij, towns west of the Euphrates River, but he added that Turkey would confirm their withdrawal through joint patrols.

Turkey and allied Syrian fighters now control a portion of the previously Kurdish-held border zone, encompassing the towns of Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ayn, as Russian and Syrian government troops move into the rest of the Kurdish-held areas after a deal with the Kurdish force.

Erdogan said Kurdishheld Kobani, also known as Ayn al-Arab, must also be “brought under our control.”

Meanwhile, in Geneva, delegations from Syria’s government, opposition and civilsociety groups gathered for the first time Wednesday to discuss the country’s constitution, billed by a U.N. mediator as a “momentous” task that could help their country emerge from nearly nine years of war.

An “opening ceremony” for the U.N.-brokered, tripartite constitutional committee offered a symbolic step by bringing once-defiant sides into the same room for talks, but the substance and possible achievements remain unknown.

The U.N. envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, called on the sides to be “patient and persistent” and warned of unknowns such as terrorist attacks or fighting that could derail the talks that have taken many months to organize.

The meeting has been billed as a Syrian-led process, with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calling it an important step in “creating the conditions for a political solution.”

Countries including Iran, Russia, Turkey and the United States are keeping close watch.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed the meeting in Geneva as a major step toward political settlement.

“Within the committee’s framework the government, the opposition and representatives of civil society will be able to work directly and without foreign interference on the constitutional reform, state-building and stable development of the country,” Putin said on a visit to Hungary.

Adding to the urgency of the U.N.-led talks is the U.S. decision to keep forces in northeastern Syria to guard oil fields, denying Syrian President Bashar Assad access to desperately needed funds to rebuild the Middle Eastern state.

While agreement is far from certain, the negotiations on constitutional changes could help unlock money from U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf and Europe, which have withheld aid because of Assad’s close ties to Iran and his refusal to loosen his grip on power by making space for opposition groups.

Russia’s military intervention in Syria since 2015 succeeded in shoring up Assad at a time when he was at risk of being overthrown in a rebellion backed by the U.S. and its allies. The U.N. estimates reconstruction costs in Syria at $250 billion and the Syrian leadership can’t count on either of its two main backers, Iran and Russia, for significant financing.

Saudi Arabia has softened its demand for Assad’s immediate departure as the Russian role in Syria has grown increasingly dominant and the U.S. presence has reduced.