Turkey

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey and Russia will discuss the removal of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia from the northern Syrian towns of Manbij and Kobani during talks in Sochi next week, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Sunday.

Turkey paused its military offensive into northeastern Syria after President Tayyip Erdogan agreed on Thursday, in talks with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, a five-day ceasefire to allow the YPG to withdraw from a “safe zone” Ankara aims to establish near its border.

ISTANBUL, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- After halting its military offensive on the U.S.-backed Kurdish militia in Syria following a deal with Washington, Ankara expressed satisfaction with the bargain, but analysts said Turkey's objectives are far from having been achieved.

Ankara stopped its operation immediately after the deal was struck between top-level Turkish and American officials in Ankara on Thursday evening.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants Syrian government forces to move out of areas near the Turkish border so he can resettle up to 2 million refugees there, his spokesman told The Associated Press on Saturday. The request will top Erdogan’s talks next week with Syria’s ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Arrangements along the Syrian-Turkish border were thrown into disarray after the U.S. pulled its troops out of the area, opening the door to Turkey’s invasion aiming to drive out Kurdish-led fighters it considers terrorists.

19 Oct 2019; MEMO: The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announced the entry into force of the Turkish-US agreement on northern Syria, which was signed on Thursday in Ankara, after long negotiations between the delegations of both countries.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey will continue its offensive into northeast Syria more rapidly than before if an agreement with the United States to pause the operation and allow the withdrawal of Kurdish forces is not fully implemented, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.

Erdogan also told journalists that it was not a problem for Turkey if Syrian government forces, backed by Russia, were to enter areas cleared of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, adding that Ankara had no intention to stay in areas under its control in northern Syria.

CEYLANPINAR, Turkey (Reuters) - Shelling could be heard at the Syrian-Turkish border on Friday morning despite a five-day ceasefire agreed between Turkey and the United States, and Washington said the deal covered only a small part of the territory Ankara aims to seize.

Reuters journalists at the border heard machine-gun fire and shelling and saw smoke rising from the Syrian border battlefield city of Ras al Ain early on Friday, although the sounds of fighting later subsided by mid-morning.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The U.S. and Turkey agreed Thursday to a cease-fire in the Turks’ deadly attacks on Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, requiring the Kurds to vacate the area in an arrangement that largely solidifies Turkey’s position and aims in the weeklong conflict. The deal includes a conditional halt to American economic sanctions.

ANKARA (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence met President Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey on Thursday on a mission to persuade him to halt an offensive against Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria, but Turkish officials said the action would continue regardless.

The assault has created a new humanitarian crisis in Syria with 200,000 civilians taking flight, a security alert over thousands of Islamic State fighters abandoned in Kurdish jails, and a political maelstrom at home for President Donald Trump.

CEYLANPINAR, Turkey (AP) — Syrian forces on Wednesday night rolled into the strategic border town of Kobani, blocking one path for the Turkish military to establish a “safe zone” free of Syrian Kurdish fighters along the frontier as part of its week-old offensive.

ANKARA, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on late Tuesday rejected the offer of his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump for a cease-fire with the Syrian Kurdish fighters, but agreed to keep in dialogue with Washington.

Speaking to journalists on his way from Baku to Ankara, Erdogan said in a phone conversation with Trump, Trump proposed to mediate for a cease-fire between Turkey and the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in Syria and decided to send a delegation to Ankara for this bid.