Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (R) shakes hands with his counterpart from Sierra Leone Nabeela Tunis during a joint press conference in Ankara, Turkey, on Aug. 15, 2019. Turkey will not tolerate any delay from the U.S. over the establishment of a safe zone in northern Syria, Turkish foreign minister said on Thursday. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)
ANKARA, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Turkey will not tolerate any delay from the U.S. over the establishment of a safe zone in northern Syria, Turkish foreign minister said on Thursday.
"They [the U.S.] first need to be sincere and need to understand that Turkey won't tolerate delaying tactics," Mevlut Cavusoglu said during a joint press conference in Ankara with Nabeela F. Tunis, his counterpart from Sierra Leone.
The U.S. stalling tactic on Syria's Manbij will not work on the safe zone issues, Cavusoglu said, adding that the U.S. continued "to provide aid to terrorists in the region."
His comments come as a delegation led by Lieutenant General Stephen Twitty, the deputy commander of the U.S. European Command will visit the southeastern province of Sanliurfa.
According to defense ministry, Twitty will supervise the establishment of the joint operations center as part of the effort to organize the safe zone.
On Aug. 7, Turkey and the United States delegation agreed to jointly set up a safe zone in northern Syria.
According to a statement from Turkish defense ministry, Turkey and the United States will establish a joint operations center in Turkey to manage the creation of a safe zone in northern Syria. It was not immediately clear how and when the zone would be created.
