Erdoğan tells Putin Syria ’safe zone’ is ’imperative’

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on May 30 it was essential to create a "safe zone" inside Syria near the Turkish border, his office said.

Under a 2019 agreement, Russia and Turkey agreed Russian military police and Syrian border guards would start driving YPG- the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terror organization- 30 kilometres (19 miles) away from the Turkish border.
Erdoğan told Putin in a phone call that "a terror-free zone with a depth of 30 kilometres from the Turkish border... was not established, and that it's imperative to make these areas secure," according to the Turkish presidency.

He pointed to the YPG's ' "continued attacks" aimed at Turkey.

Erdoğan said last week Turkey would soon launch a new military operation into northern Syria to create a "safe zone" along the border.

Turkey has launched three offensives into Syria since 2016 aimed at crushing YPG.

Erdoğan also told Putin that Turkey was ready to resume a role in ending the war in Ukraine, including taking part in a possible "observation mechanism" between Ukraine, Russia and the United Nations, the statement said.

Negotiations in Istanbul held in March failed to make any headway but Turkey, which has close ties to both Kyiv and Moscow, has repeatedly put itself forward as a possible mediator.

The Turkish president also called for peace in Ukraine as soon as possible and for confidence-building steps to be taken.

In Washington, the National Security Council said National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan had called İbrahim Kalın, chief adviser to Erdoğan, to discuss the two nations' support for Ukraine, but also to voice caution about actions in Syria.

Sullivan "reiterated the...