Russia to consider interests of Turkey, all parties in Syria - FM Lavrov
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia would seek to take into full account the interests of all parties involved, including Syria's neighbours, in resolving the Syrian conflict.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks during the annual news conference in Moscow, Russia, January 16, 2019.
Russia will the consider interests of all parties and Syria’s neighbours including Turkey regarding the proposed 32-kilometre (20-mile) safe zone that is under consideration for northern Syria, the foreign minister said on Wednesday.
"We will fully seek to take into account the interests of all parties involved, all of Syria's neighbours," Sergey Lavrov told an annual news conference in Moscow.
"And, of course, the security interests of all countries in the region, including Turkey, will be part of the agreements that we will seek," he added.
On Monday Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone call with his US counterpart Donald Trump, discussing the idea of establishing a terror-free safe zone in northern Syria.
The phone call came after Trump threatened to "devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds," conflating "Kurds" with the terrorist PKK/YPG in Syria, a false equivalence that Turkey has repeatedly criticized.
The PKK is considered a terror organisation by the US, EU and Turkey. The YPG is its Syrian wing.
In the PKK's 30-year campaign of terror against Turkey, some 40,000 people, including women and children, have been killed.
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