The YPG/PKK terrorists will be stripped of their weapons when withdrawing from the northern Syrian city of Manbij as part of a roadmap agreed with the United States, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters in Turkey's southern province of Antalya, Çavuşoğlu said joint work on the roadmap, which he endorsed with his U.S. counterpart Mike Pompeo in Washington on Monday, will begin in 10 days and be carried out within six months. He said in future the model should also be applied to Syria's Raqqa, Kobani and other areas controlled by the YPG/PKK.
The United States did not promise to declare the YPG a terrorist organisation, Çavuşoğlu said.
He also said that Turkey's efforts in Manbij with the United States were not an alternative to working with Russia in Syria.
The Turkish minister said the roadmap was not "an international agreement" but rather "a bilateral roadmap".
"No 3rd country will have a say in Turkey-US deal whether it is France, United Kingdom or Belgium."
Following a visit by former U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Ankara in February, Turkey and the U.S. established a mechanism to address separate issues in working groups, including the stabilization of Manbij and to prevent any undesirable clashes.
The first meeting of the working group on Syria was held on March 8-9 in Washington.
U.S. military support for the YPG/PKK terrorist group in Manbij has strained ties between Ankara and Washington and has led to fears of military clashes between the two NATO allies since there are roughly 2,000 U.S. troops in the city.
