Türkiye blames Russia, US for not withdrawing Kurdish forces from nothern Syria

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says that Russia and the US have not fulfilled their obligations regarding the withdrawal of Kurdish forces from a number of regions in Syria.

"During my visit to the United States, we will talk about Syria. Because they [the US side] continue to support the Kurdistan Workers' Party and the People's Self-Defense Forces. That's a threat to us. Both the U.S. and Russia have not kept their word to us. We keep telling these countries that the terms of the 2019 agreements have not been fulfilled," he said on January 13 at a joint press conference with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in Ankara. The broadcast was carried on Cavusoglu 's Twitter page, TASS reports.

The minister was referring to agreements made separately with the US and Russia in October 2019, when Ankara launched the "Source of Peace" military operation against armed Kurdish militias in northern Syria. In particular, the agreements concerned the complete withdrawal of Kurdish formations from the area of the Turkish operation, as well as the consolidation of a number of territorial realities and Turkish control over the areas of the operation.

"The US also failed to fulfill the terms of the 90-day plan for Manbij. So they have to take responsibility for their words. We will discuss this during our trip to the US," he said. That 2018 plan also involved the withdrawal of Kurdish formations from parts of northern Syria.