Erdogan presses for 'concrete steps' in Syria during call with Putin
President Erdogan tells his Russian counterpart Putin that the Syrian government needs to be "constructive" for "concrete results" in Syria.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a phone call on Thursday that “concrete steps are needed” to weed out Syrian Kurdish groups from the northern region of Syria, and that Damascus needed to adopt a “constructive” approach.
The call is the first direct contact between the two leaders after landmark talks between Turkish, Russian and defense and intelligence chiefs in Moscow last week.
Erdogan, according to an official Turkish readout, told Putin that the Syrian Kurdish groups that Ankara considers “terrorists” need to withdraw from the Syrian regions along the Turkish border “particularly from Tell Rifaat and Manbij,” .
“[Erdogan] said that [the Syrian] regime needs to be constructive and take certain steps in the political process in order for concrete results to be achieved on the Syrian issue," the Turkish readout added, as Russia tries to arrange an Assad-Erdogan meeting following a decade of hostilities.
