Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Monday said the US and Russia have not yet fulfilled the agreements reached over northern Syria, signaling that Ankara would launch another military operation to clear Kurdish militia from the region, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
“Have they fulfilled whatever was necessary under the agreements? No, they have not as of now. But they should,” Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told members of the Turkish parliament’s planning and budget committee.
“We launched an operation [before in northern Syria] … and we will do it again if we think it’s necessary,” he added.
Çavuşoğlu also said Turkey had informed the Syrian administration of the military operation in northern Syria before it was launched.
“We stressed that we respect the territorial integrity of Syria,” he said.
Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring on Oct. 9 to eliminate Kurdish militia from northeastern Syria to create a safe zone for relocating up to 2 million Syrian refugees living in Turkey.
On Oct. 22 Ankara and Moscow reached a deal under which Syrian Kurdish militants would pull back 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) south of Turkey’s border with Syria and that security forces from Turkey and Russia could conduct joint patrols there.
Turkey also had talks with representatives of the US administration on Oct. 18 reaching a similar deal.