"The right move" .. Erdogan confirms the continuation of the establishment of "safe area" in Syria

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed on Wednesday that the agreement signed with the United States to establish a safe area in northeastern Syria is the right move there, and that Ankara will not allow it to be postponed.

"The agreement we reached with the United States is the right move to establish a safe area and evacuate the YPG from the east of the Euphrates," CNN Turk quoted Erdogan as saying during a return trip from Moscow.

Ankara announced earlier this week the opening of a joint operations center for the proposed area on the border of northeastern Syria.

Washington and Ankara have been at loggerheads over plans in the region, where the YPG is an integral part of US-backed forces fighting IS, while Turkey considers them a "terrorist organization."

But Erdogan stressed that Turkey would not accept to postpone the plan. "We will never accept any delay like we saw in Manbij. The process should move at a rapid pace," he said.

ground forces
Erdogan said this week that Turkish ground forces would enter the planned safe zone "very soon" after he warned that his country would launch a unilateral cross-border attack to drive the YPG out of its border if necessary.

"All troops and troop carriers are on the border. We are in a position to do everything at any moment," he said.

A Kurdish official in northern Syria said the YPG would withdraw troops and heavy weapons from a strip on the Syrian border with Turkey under agreements between Washington and Ankara.

Kurdish-led authorities in northern and eastern Syria said units had withdrawn from their positions in Tall Abyad and Ras Issa on the border in recent days.

Comment and support
US President Donald Trump last year proposed the creation of the safe zone after he announced plans to withdraw troops from Syria. But he later suspended the plan to ensure protection for Washington's Kurdish allies.

US support for the YPG has angered Turkey, which sees it as a security threat and linked to Kurdish militants on its soil.

Relations between the two countries have also been strained by Turkey's purchase of the S-400 missile defense system from Russia, prompting Washington to begin removing Turkey from its F-35 program, which Ankara also plans to buy.