(MENAFN) Turkey and US would form a "safe zone" around Syria's Manbij, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin has announced, addimg that this will come to true if the US "keeps promises."
In an interview with the TRT Haber broadcaster, Kalin said that the deal was binding and that a change in the US Secretary of State would not change it even if it leads to a 1-2 week delay.
The Turkish envision came as a response to the US announcement that it had been training a 30,000-strong border security force in Syria, comprised of the Syrian Kurds' People's Protection Units (YPG), which is considered by Turkey to be affiliated with the Kurdistan's Workers' Party (PKK), deemed a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union and Turkey.
Later on, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu demanded the US to withdraw from Manbij and called on Washington to prevent redeployment of the YPG from Manbij to Afrin.
However, US Central Command chief General Joseph Votel, said the US was not planning to withdraw forces from the city.
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