WEB DESK
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the country is aiming to form safe zones in northern Syria so that Syrian refugees hosted by Turkey could return to their home country. Speaking in Istanbul today, Erdogan said nearly 3,00,000 Syrians had already returned to areas controlled by Turkish-backed rebels in northern Syria.
He added that he expected millions of Syrian nationals to return to the proposed safe zones. Turkey hosts about four million Syrian refugees.
US President Donald Trump announced last year the withdrawal of the 2,000 US troops from Syria. Erdogan subsequently said they had discussed setting up a 32 kilometre-deep safe zone in Syria along the border with Turkey.
Ankara expects the safe zone to be set up within a few months. It wants the zone to contain the fighters of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units ,YPG. The YPG, however, has rejected the idea of a safe zone set up by Ankara, fearing a Turkish offensive against territory under their control.