Erdogan vows 'necessary steps' if US, Russian promises not kept

• Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed a deal in which Moscow will "facilitate the removal" of the fighters and their weapons from within 30 kilometres.
• If promises made in the US or Russian agreements are not kept, there will be no change regarding what necessary steps we must take.

ISTANBUL: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed that Turkey would take "the necessary steps" if Russian and American promises to push Kurdish fighters in Syria away from the Turkish border were not kept, in comments published Wednesday.

After hours of talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi Tuesday, Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed a deal in which Moscow will "facilitate the removal" of the fighters and their weapons from within 30 kilometres (18 miles) of the border.

"If promises made in the US or Russian agreements are not kept, there will be no change regarding what necessary steps we must take," Erdogan said, indicating that Turkey would again unilaterally target Kurdish fighters it views as "terrorists".

"We will continue our operation with the same determination" if the US agreement is not adhered to, Erdogan told reporters on the return from Russia.

A Turkish assault that began on October 9 was made possible by a pullback of US troops deployed along the border as a buffer force between their NATO ally Turkey and the fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces, including the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia.

There was immediate condemnation in the West, with bipartisan criticism in the US Congress and sanctions slapped on Turkish ministers.

In a bid to silence his critics at a tense time, US President Donald Trump rushed his Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Ankara Thursday to agree a 120-hour pause in fighting while the YPG withdraw from a 120-kilometre zone.

This ended at 1900 GMT Tuesday with the US telling the Turks that the YPG had withdrawn from the area between the towns of Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain. Washington promised Ankara an end to the operation would also mean sanctions would be lifted.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu earlier Wednesday in a televised interview with the official Anadolu news agency said that Moscow had assured Ankara it would not allow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime to cooperate with Kurdish fighters.

Ankara sees Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters as "terrorists" linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The PKK, blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies, has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.