Defense Ministers of Russia and Turkey held telephone talks

10 December 2019


Russian and Turkish Defense Ministers Sergey Shoygu and Hulusi Akar held telephone talks. The main topic of discussion was the situation in Northern Syria.


"During the talks, the Ministers exchanged views on security issues in Idlib and other regions, in particular on the situation in the zone of Operation Peace Spring within the framework of the Sochi agreement," the Turkish military said in a statement.


The sides also discussed the situation in the Middle East region, paying special attention to the implementation of the Russian-Turkish Memorandum of understanding on the settlement of the situation in north-eastern  Syria.


The document was signed on October 22. The Memorandum consists of 10 points and involves entering the Syrian side of the Turkish-Syrian border, outside the area of Operation Peace Spring of Russian military police and Syrian border guards to facilitate the removal of YPG elements and their weapons to the depth of 30 km from the Turkish-Syrian border. After the removal of the Kurds,  joint Russian-Turkish patrols started in the west and the east of the area of Operation Peace Spring with a depth of 10 km, except Qamishli city.

 

GSV "Russia - Islamic World"

Photo: Vadim Savitsky / TASS