(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Donald Trump yesterday discussed the establishment of a secure zone in northern Syria cleared of militia groups, the Turkish presidency said.
Speaking by phone, the two emphasised the need to complete a roadmap regarding Syria's border town of Manbij, as well to avoid giving any opportunity to elements seeking to block the planned withdrawal of US forces from Syria, it said.
Earlier, Turkey vowed it would not be intimidated by US President Donald Trump's threats of economic devastation if Ankara attacks Kurdish forces as American troops withdraw.
Trump's threat came after Ankara repeatedly threatened a new cross-border operation against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which have been working closely with the United States in the war on Islamic State (IS) extremists. US support for the YPG has been a major source of tension between the Nato allies.
'We have said repeatedly we are not scared of and will not be intimidated by any threats, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, adding: 'Economic threats against Turkey will get nowhere.
While there have been tensions over American training of the YPG under the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance, there appeared to be some improvement on the issue after Trump said last month 2,000 American troops would withdraw from Syria.
Ankara welcomed the pullout decision after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Trump in a phone call that Turkey could finish off the last remnants of IS.
Trump had also pushed for the creation of a 30-kilometre 'safe zone.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo yesterday said talks were under way on Washington's proposal to establish the zone in flashpoint border areas of northeastern Syria.
'We want to make sure that the folks who fought with us to down the (Islamic State group) have security...and also that terrorists acting out of Syria aren't able to attack Turkey, Pompeo said in Riyadh.
Cavusoglu earlier said that Turkey was 'not against a 'security zone in Syria, during a press conference in Ankara.
Turkey views the YPG as a 'terrorist offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.
The PKK is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Ankara, the United States and the European Union.
Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Ankara would 'continue to fight against them all, referring to IS and the YPG.
Kalin added it was 'a fatal mistake to equate Syrian Kurds with the PKK. There has been growing friction between Turkey and the US over the fate of the YPG, especially after Pompeo this month said Washington would ensure Turkey would not 'slaughter Kurds. And before a visit to Ankara last week, White House National Security adviser John Bolton said the US retreat was conditional on the safety of the Kurdish fighters, provoking angry retorts from Turkish officials.
Turkey previously launched military offensives in northern Syria in 2016 and 2018 respectively against IS and the YPG.
In early 2018, Syrian rebels backed by Turkish military forces captured the YPG's northwestern enclave of Afrin.
Ankara, which supports Syrian opposition fighters, is also involved in the last rebel bastion of Idlib, where Turkey has agreed a buffer zone deal with Damascus ally Russia.
But the deal has not stopped an assault by militants in Syria.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an alliance led by militants from Al Qaeda's former Syrian affiliate, last week extended its administrative control over the whole of the Idlib region.
Syria's National Coalition, the leading opposition body, on Sunday called for a 'radical solution to put 'an end to its (HTS) presence in Idlib.
'If Idlib is a terrorists' nest, those responsible are not the Syrians who live in the region or Turkey but the regime and the countries which support (Damascus), Cavusoglu said, claiming that the statements that HTS took 50% of Idlib are 'not true. Cavusoglu added the Idlib deal was being 'successfully applied and that 'our teams are working together to solve the minor issues.
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