“We condemned the military operation of Turkey and called for its cessation. Now we have to see if the agreed ceasefire will lead to a settlement of the situation, ”her statement quoted the press conference following the EU TASS summit.
Merkel emphasized that the issue of the return of refugees to Syria should be resolved only through political means.
Earlier, Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised to continue the operation in Syria if the US does not fulfill the conditions for the withdrawal of Kurdish forces outside the "security zone".
He also denied media reports about continued shelling in the zone of operations in Syria.