- Title: Kremlin: Turkey's Syria operation should not damage political process
- Date: 16th October 2019
- Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FILE) (REUTERS) PEOPLE WALKING PAST KREMLIN IN RED SQUARE
- Embargoed: 30th October 2019 10:29
- Keywords: Russia Syria Peskov Erdogan Syria campaign Turkish military
- Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA AND UNKNOWN LOCATION
- City: MOSCOW, RUSSIA AND UNKNOWN LOCATION
- Country: Russia
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,International/National Security
- Reuters ID: LVA001B1CL3D3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The Kremlin said on Wednesday (October 16) that Turkey's military operation in northeast Syria should not damage the political process in the country and that Ankara's actions there should be proportional.
Speaking to reporters on a conference call, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, however, that Moscow respected Turkey's right to defend itself. Russia is a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Turkey's offensive into northeast Syria will end if Kurdish fighters in the region drop their weapons and withdraw from a planned "safe zone", President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday (October 16), but warned that no power could stop it until then.
Erdogan said the quickest solution was for militants to drop their weapons and pull back from the area by Wednesday evening. The operation will end when the "safe zone" is established, he said, and Turkey was not open to negotiating this.
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