(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Turkey reached agreement with the United States to deny the Democratic Union Party (PYD) access to the safe zone to be established in northern Syria after being cleared from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Turkish diplomatic sources said Wednesday.
Joint Turkish-US areal operations to protect the planned safe zone will start at the proper time, Turkey's Anadolu Agency (AA) cited the sources as saying under anonymity.
The PYD is a Kurdish militant group based in Syria and affiliated to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU. However, the US State Department did not confirm whether the Syrian Kurdish fighters would be prohibited from entering the area. The Turkish Foreign Ministry announced on July 29 the decision to allow the use of Turkey's air bases by coalition aircraft, meaning the Incirlik base "could be used any time, whenever needed." Turkey and the US warned the PYD not to cross to the west of the Euphrates River. They were also warned against attempting to force any demographic change in the region or hamper the return of Syria's Turkmen and Arabs who fled their homes because of US-led airstrikes on the ISIL-held towns.
The zone to be cleared of ISIL will be made "safe" after a U.S.-Turkey joint operation. Subsequently, moderate Syrian opposition forces are to be deployed in what Turkey calls the "safe zone," the sources added.
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