US team arrives in Turkey's Sanliurfa for safe zone in N Syria

The Joint Operation Center that will be established in cooperation between Turkey and the US will become operational within the next few days, as first the party of US personnel arrived in southeastern Turkey's Sanliurfa, National Defense Ministry said Monday (August 12).

The ministry said six personnel arrived in Sanliurfa to begin work on the Joint Operation Center, without providing further details on the arriving team.

The statement said the operation center was expected to be operational within the next few days.

On Wednesday, Turkish military officials and their US counterparts agreed to set up a safe zone in northern Syria that would be a "peace corridor" for displaced Syrians longing to return home.

Both sides also agreed on the immediate implementation of measures to address Turkey's security concern.

The officials also planned for a Joint Operations Center to be established in Turkey to coordinate and manage the establishment of the safe zone.

Turkey expects the creation of a 32-kilometer (20-mile) safe zone in northern Syria, which must be cleared of the People's Protection Units (YPG), the Syrian branch of the PKK. Ankara has warned that if establishment of such a zone is delayed, it will take cross-border military action to remove the terrorist threat at its southern border.

Based on Daily Sabah