Turkey says has capacity to create "safe zone" in Syria alone

Turkey has the capacity to create a "safe zone" in Syria on its own but will not exclude the United States, Russia or others if they want to cooperate, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday (January 24).

After US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria, President Tayyip Erdogan said he and Trump had discussed Turkey setting up a 20-mile-deep safe zone in Syria along the border.

Cavusoglu said that nothing was yet certain about the planned safe zone, but that Ankara and Washington's views were in line, aside from a couple of points.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday (January 23), after which the Russian leader said the two men had discussed what steps they would take to stabilise the situation in Syria's Idlib province.