Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Turkey has asked for Russia’s support to take joint decisions and perhaps work together to take steps in northern Syria.
Erdogan told reporters after his meeting with the Russian parliamentary speaker Vyacheslav Volodin in the capital Ankara that “Turkey will not ask permission from anyone,” as it is seeking to carry out a ground operation.
The Turkish president reaffirmed the importance of establishing a safe zone in northern Syria, according to the 2019 agreement between Turkey and Russia.
The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Monday that Russia is trying to persuade Ankara not to launch a ground operation in Syria, stressing that contacts continue, which means that there are successes. We will continue the contacts.
The Turkish President has previously stressed to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, the need and priority to clear the Syrian-Turkish border from terrorists at a depth of at least 30 km, in the first phase, according to the Sochi agreement signed in 2019.
