Turkey’s actions should not threaten Syria’s territorial integrity – Kremlin

Although the Turkish military have the right to be in Syria according to a 1998 treaty, their activity should not “lead to emergence of any quasi-autonomous territorial entities and threaten Syria’s territorial integrity,” Russian president spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday. Turkish troops have been operating in the north of the country since 2016, fighting ISIS and the US-backed Kurdish YPG, who they consider terrorists. Ankara is allowed to conduct near-border operations in Syria, according to the 1998 Adana agreement, against the PKK, a Kurdish organization deemed terrorist by Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he expects to establish a 20-mile-deep safe zone in Syria along the border in a few months as the US pulls its troops out of the conflict-torn country, AFP reports.