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Members of the Syrian Kurdish security forces in the back of a van during a joint patrol, October 24, 2019. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP

On Tuesday, Moscow informed Ankara of the " total " withdrawal of Kurdish forces. Turkey is waiting to see.

With our correspondent in Istanbul, Anne Andlauer

On October 22, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed an agreement in Sochi that effectively ended Turkey's offensive against Kurdish forces in northern Syria. In exchange, Russia undertook to ensure within six days the withdrawal of Kurdish fighters from the border areas. On Tuesday, Moscow announced the end of the withdrawal of the Kurdish YPG militia.

But these reassuring announcements do not mean that calm has returned to northeastern Syria. First, there have been in recent days clashes between the Turkish army and the Kurdish forces that have killed on both sides. Then President Erdogan always said that these Kurdish fighters remained a target if they were on the way to the Turkish armed forces in the areas they are supposed to have evacuated.

Joint patrols in evacuated areas

For the moment, Ankara takes note of Moscow's statements. The next step is joint patrols of Turkish and Russian armies 10 kilometers deep in these evacuated areas. The Turkish Minister of Defense announced that these patrols would begin " shortly ". Local media reports that they could set up this Wednesday. For Ankara, the first step is to check that the Kurdish forces have left the border area.

The rest will have to be negotiated with Moscow and, indirectly, with the Syrian regime which has regained a foothold in these territories. It is known that Ankara intends to set up a "security zone" along its border to return part of the more than three and a half million Syrian refugees on its soil.