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A10 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 23 OctOber 2019
Erdogan warns Kurdish fighters to pull out of Syrian region

By SUZAN FRASER lations since the cease-fire
Associated Press came into effect. Kurdish
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — officials have also accused
Turkish President Recep Turkey of cease-fire viola-
Tayyip Erdogan said Tues- tions.
day up to 1,300 Syrian Kurd- Turkey's incursion into Syria
ish fighters have yet to va- has led to an international
cate a northeastern Syrian outcry, which has in turn
area invaded by Ankara, enraged Erdogan, who has
hours before a five-day accused his NATO allies of
cease-fire between Turkish not standing by Turkey.
troops and Syrian Kurdish European Council Presi-
fighters was set to expire dent Donald Tusk on Tues-
there. day condemned the incur-
Erdogan said up to 800 Syr- sion and called on Erdogan
ian Kurdish fighters have to pull his troops out of the
already left under the deal region.
that brought the pause in Tusk told EU lawmakers in
fighting following Turkey's Strasbourg, France that
incursion and renewed "no one is fooled by the so-
threats to resume the of- called cease-fire" agree-
fensive if all the Syrian Kurds ment, and that Turkey,
don't depart before the which is a candidate for
deadline runs out at 10:00 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan talks to reporters before traveling to Russia to meet with EU membership, "needs
p.m. Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Ankara, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019. to end its military action
The Turkish leader spoke to Associated Press permanently, withdraw its
reporters before traveling controls following its incur- The move came days af- Turkey seeks to establish forces and respect interna-
to Russia for a high-stakes sion into northeast Syrian ter President Donald Trump what it calls a "safe zone" tional humanitarian law."
meeting with Russian Presi- to drive the fighters away suddenly announced he extending more than 400 Separately, Germany's de-
dent Vladimir Putin. from its borders. was pulling American forc- kilometers (250 miles) along fense minister proposed
The pullout occurred un- Turkey launched the op- es out of the area, essen- the Turkish-Syrian border the establishment of an in-
der the terms of a U.S.- eration into northern Syria tially abandoning Kurdish and about 30 kilometers (19 ternationally controlled se-
brokered deal for a 120- on Oct. 9, saying it aimed allies in the battle against miles) inside Syria, where curity zone in Syria.
hour pause in fighting that to push out Syrian Kurdish the Islamic State group it plans to resettle about Annegret Kramp-Karren-
expires Tuesday night, to fighters it considers terrorists and paving the way for the 2 million of the roughly 3.6 bauer told German news
allow Syrian Kurdish fight- and an extension of a Kurd- incursion Turkey had long million Syrian refugees cur- agency dpa that "the cre-
ers to leave areas Turkey ish insurgency within Turkey. promised to carry out. rently living in Turkey. ation of an internationally
"If America does not keep controlled security zone
to its promises, our offensive with the inclusion of Turkey
will continue from where it and Russia" would have the
left off, with a much great- goal of deescalating the
er determination," Erdogan situation in northern Syria.
said. "There is no place The German parliament
for the (Kurdish fighters) in would need to decide on
Syria's future. We hope that whether German troops
with Russia's cooperation, could participate in such a
we will rid the region of zone, Kramp-Karrenbauer
separatist terror." said. She also told broad-
Erdogan and Putin are caster Deutsche Welle that
meeting in Sochi for talks Chancellor Angela Merkel
expected to focus on bor- had been informed of the
der areas that are currently proposal.
held by Syrian government Syrian state media report-
forces. ed Tuesday that govern-
Although Turkish officials ment forces entered new
say the cease-fire agree- areas in the northeastern
ment specifically covers a province of Hassakeh as
roughly 120-kilometer (75- part of an agreement they
mile) stretch between the reached with the main Syr-
Syrian border towns of Tal ian Kurdish group in the
Abyad and Ras al-Ayn, Er- area after Trump's decision
dogan has made clear he to withdraw U.S. forces from
wants Turkish military pres- northern Syria, essentially
ence along the full stretch abandoning their Kurdish
of the border from the Eu- allies in the fight against IS.
phrates River to Syria's bor- The areas that the Syrian
der with Iraq. government and the Kurds
Turkey's military said Tues- agreed that the govern-
day at least 136 vehicles, ment would enter are out-
carrying fighters, had left side the cease-fire agree-
the region. It said it had ment reached between
recorded a total of 41 vio- the U.S. and Turkey.q