Kurds withdrawal from N. Syria ‘must be confirmed,’ Ankara says

Turkey on Friday said it needed to see evidence of a pullout by Kurdish fighters from parts of northern Syria after Syrian Kurdish authorities claimed a withdrawal had taken place, AFP reported.

“There is information from the Americans that the YPG has withdrawn, that some emplacements were destroyed but these must be confirmed,” Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said, referring to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia. “We want to see all of this for ourselves,” Akar added.

The semi-autonomous Kurdish administration on Tuesday said its forces started to withdraw from outposts along the Turkish border including the Ras al-Ain area.

Turkey and the US this month agreed after difficult negotiations to set up a buffer between the Turkish border and Syrian areas controlled by the YPG. The militia worked closely with the US against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), but Ankara sees it as a “terrorist” offshoot of Kurdish insurgents in Turkey.