Foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on March 30 that Turkish troops will not be withdrawn from Syria after the country’s military had “successfully accomplished” its Euphrates Shield operation, Hurriyet Daily News reported.
“Residential areas need to be established there. The US says the same thing.
Second, local forces that will be deployed to provide protection here need to be trained and equipped.
We will evaluate reducing the number of troops or withdrawing entirely only after local forces are fully able to control this area,”
Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Turkish Foreign Minister
According to Çavuşoğlu, he and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson discussed the establishment of “interim stabilization zones” inside Syria during Tillerson’s visit to Ankara on March 30.
Çavuşoğlu said they proposed to work together and to invite European countries to participate in the project, according to Hurriyet Daily News.
However, Çavuşoğlu said he told Tillerson that territory under YPG control could not be considered “safe zones.”