Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas were holding talks in Ankara on Saturday amid Turkey
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas were holding talks in Ankara on Saturday amid Turkey’s anti-terror operation in northern Syria.
“The return of refugees to their homes in Syria following Turkey’s anti-terror operation needs to be voluntary and safe,” Çavuşoğlu said at a news conference with German Counterpart Maas following the meeting.
Çavuşoğlu also said Turkey would not tolerate any human rights violations in northeast Syria and would investigate any allegations that they had taken place. He noted that PKK-affiliated People’s Protection Units (YPG) terrorist group’s affiliates in Germany had harassed and attacked Turkish citizens, and urged German security officials to act against such elements.
“We expect Germany to act in accordance with the spirit of alliance,” Çavuşoğlu said regarding Turkey’s anti-terror operation in Syria.
The minister noted that according to U.N. figures around 30,000 people have voluntarily returned to the safe zone area created as part of the operation.
Çavuşoğlu also noted that Turkey does not find German proposal on the international safe zone in Syria realistic.
Earlier this week, addressing lawmakers at the German parliament during a debate on the Middle East, Maas criticized Turkey’s anti-terror operation against the PKK-affiliated People’s Protection Units (YPG) terrorist group in northern Syria, but underlined the importance of dialogue between Ankara and Berlin.
There has also been disagreement within the German government about the situation in Syria. This week, Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer proposed a U.N.-backed security zone in Syria, but Maas did not support the proposal.
Kramp-Karrenbauer planned to introduce a draft for an internationally controlled safe zone along Syria’s border with Turkey at the NATO meeting this week, despite Turkey’s existing plan to create a safe zone there after the withdrawal of PKK-linked terrorists.
It was unclear whether Maas would also meet President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring, the third in a series of cross-border anti-terror operations in northern Syria targeting terrorists affiliated with Daesh and the PKK’s Syrian offshoot the YPG, on Oct. 9 at 4 p.m. The operation was paused on Oct. 17 after a deal between Ankara and Washington to give the YPG five days to withdraw from the proposed safe zone area.