Turkey has not seen the developments it desires in efforts with the United States to create a “safe zone” in northeastern Syria and has no choice but to go its own way, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Ankara and NATO ally Washington have agreed to establish a zone along 480 kilometers (300 miles) of the Turkish border that Turkey wants to extend 30 kilometers inside Syria. Turkey has repeatedly warned of unilateral military action if the efforts do not meet its expectations, and it set an end-September deadline.
Speaking at parliament’s opening ceremony in Ankara, Erdoğan said Turkey planned to settle 2 million people in the planned “safe zone,” which he said would stretch east from the Euphrates River in Syria to the Iraqi border.