19 February 2019•Update: 19 February 2019
By Elena Teslova
MOSCOW
Russia, Turkey and Iran have agreed to find a solution to the problems plaguing northern Syria based on the 1998 Adana Agreement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday.
“At the recent summit in Sochi, agreement was reached to resolve this problem on the basis of the treaty signed in Adana," Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow.
“There are terrorist threats on the border between Syria and Turkey; they have existed there for a long time,” he added.
Lavrov stated that the details of the Sochi "accord will be defined in consultations between the Russian, Turkish and Syrian militaries".
Turkey says the Adana Agreement -- signed between Ankara and Damascus in 1998 -- was aimed at eliminating these threats, and therefore allows Turkish forces to conduct operations inside Syria near the Turkish border.
On a plan to create a terror-free safe zone in northern Syria along Turkish border Lavrov said: “I think the U.S. lacks perspective when it says that it will decide who will implement security in the buffer zone."
The current situation east of the Euphrates was “the result of U.S. actions in the region”, he added, going on to assert that Washington wanted "to split Syria and create a quasi-state".
"They are already actively investing in it and even forcing their allies to pay for reconstruction in this part of the Syrian Arab Republic," he said.
In 1998, Syria and Turkey signed an agreement in Turkey’s southern city of Adana aimed at easing Ankara’s concerns regarding the PKK terrorist group.
Terrorist training camps were closed in Syria, and terrorist elements were refused service by Syrian banks.
Turkey and Syria also worked in tandem to clear mines from the border areas, allowing it to be used for agricultural purposes.
Turkish officials have repeatedly said that a cross-border operation against the YPG/PKK -- the PKK's Syrian branch -- would soon be launched east of the Euphrates.
In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, including women and children.
