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Tehran against Turkey-proposed safe zone in Syria

20 February 2017 15:16 (UTC+04:00)
Tehran against Turkey-proposed safe zone in Syria

By Trend

Tehran says it is against setting up a safe zone in the war-torn country of Syria as was recently proposed by Turkey.

“This idea of Turkey is wrong and will worsen the problems. We do not accept it,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi told a press conference, Trend correspondent reported from the event.

The response came one week after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told an audience in Bahrain that he wants to create a “safe zone” near Raqqa, Syria.

Erdogan said the safe zone would encompass 3,475 square miles and include the Syrian town of Manbij, which was taken from the Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) in August by Syrian Kurds working closely with the U.S. military.

Commenting on Tehran-Moscow cooperation over the Syrian crisis, Qassemi said, “We are in the best mode of cooperation and have had no disagreement during the Astana talks,” without commenting on Tehran-Ankara relations over developments in Syria.

Last week Iran, Turkey, and Russia attended a round of talks in Kazakhstan’s Astana to discuss how to safeguard an ongoing ceasefire in Syria.

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