German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed bilateral relations with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan before the start of the G20 summit in China, their first meeting since the failed July 15 coup, a German government spokesman said.
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Ankara has often called for a safe-zone inside Syria, backed up with a no-fly zone, as it is now hosting more than 2.5 million refugees who fled the over five-year civil war.
Turkey launched an ambitious operation inside Syria on August 24, sending tanks and special forces in to back opposition fighters. Ankara, fighting a Kurdish insurgency at home, calls both groups terrorist organisations.
“This is my proposal to Mr Putin and Mr Obama”.
The comments come as Turkey continues Operation Euphrates Shield in northern Syria, with the self-declared aim of clearing terrorist elements from along its southern border, and as the USA continues to lead a coalition of countries, including Turkey, who are jointly fighting ISIL in Iraq and Syria.
“What was encouraging was the degree to which the Turkish people, including those who were opposed to President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, [were] stepping up and saying this is unacceptable”, he told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.
Turkey proposed such a “safe zone”, which would stretch roughly 40 km deep into Syria, at last year’s G20 meeting in the Turkish city of Antalya, but without success.
In a vague reference to Gulen, Obama said the Justice Department and USA national security teams “will cooperate with Turkish authorities to determine how we can make sure that those who carried out these activities are brought to justice”. “Now at this summit too, we have brought up this issue with all our friends”.
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The president said he was working with USA -led coalition forces and Russian Federation to establish a cease-fire in Aleppo before a religious holiday which starts around September 11.
