ANKARA: Turkey and Russia have been in continuous dialogue over the presence of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said in a statement.
Erdogan informed reporters on his trip from Ukraine to Turkey on Friday that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed a potential military action against the Kurdish People's Protection Units on August 5 in the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.
The Turkish President was quoted by Anadolu as stating that "at the present, our security forces, intelligence agency, and Defense Ministry are in contact with Russia for every action we take in Syria." He said that despite their best efforts, Turkey and Iran were unable to collaborate "effectively" against the Syrian YPG members.
Erdogan responded that political talks are always possible since "political discussion or diplomacy between states can never be broken off.
The Syrian government should approve a new constitution "as soon as possible," the Turkish President said, emphasising that Turkey values Syria's territorial integrity, according to news report.
Erdogan has said since May that Ankara intends to begin a fresh military operation in Syria against the YPG to link up two regions in northern Syria that are under its control close to the Turkish border as part of the efforts to establish a 30-km-deep safe zone along the border.
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