Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed late Thursday on the need for a ceasefire in Syria “as soon as possible”, state media reported.
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Turkish-backed militia drove ISIS from the border town of Jarablus, but Turkey has also been concerned with checking the advance of Kurdish forces whom it regarded as terrorists.
Held by DAESH since 2013, Jarablus was easily recaptured by the Free Syrian Army supported by Turkish tanks and aviation on the first day of Operation Euphrates Shield launched by Ankara on August 24 with the aim of clearing terrorist groups along its border with Syria.
It said a 2km stretch of the cable would be on Syrian territory and the rest in Turkey. The US State Department has not commented on the remarks.
An operation in Raqqa would entail an expansion of co-operation on Syria between Turkey and the United States, Nato allies whose relations have been strained over policies on Syria.
Washington says Turkish attacks on Kurdish-aligned militias damage a US-backed coalition that is fighting Islamic State. The operation is also meant to deter further advances by Syrian Kurds allied with Turkish separatists.
Turkey supports plans to drive Islamic State out of its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa but USA -backed Kurdish militia fighters should not be at the core of the operation, Turkish Defence Minister Fikri Isik said on Thursday.
But on Tuesday Isis killed three Turkish troops and wounded four more when the Islamists hit tanks with missiles.
Erdogan said the original residents of Jarabulus and al-Rai have already begun to return from Turkey.
Obama floated the idea of joint action with Turkey to capture Raqqa during talks between the two leaders at a G20 summit in China, Erdogan said, according to Wednesday’s edition of Turkey’s Hurriyet daily.
Turkey has absorbed some 2.7 million Syrian refugees within its borders since the start of civil war in neighbouring Syria.
U.S. officials have welcomed Turkish efforts to dislodge Islamic State but voiced concern when Turkish troops engaged fighters aligned with the Kurdish YPG militia, a force Washington sees as a valuable ally in battling jihadists.
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Both Turkey and the United States designate the PKK as a terrorist organisation but the U.S. has refused to extend that definition to the PYD.
