On Thursday, Turkey has agreed to suspend the military offence temporarily against Syria. Turkey declared a 5-day halt for its military actions in Syria.
The U.S Vice President Mike Pence had negotiations with Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the presidential palace in Ankara. After a fruitful outcome, Pence has announced the ceasefire.
Pence statements regarding the cease fire were :
It’s a great day for the United States, it’s a great day for Turkey,
A great day for the Kurds, it’s a great day for civilization,
The temporary halt of Turkish Military operations will facilitate the Kurdish led forces or militias, called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to withdraw from the border areas.
Also, read: Turkey launches Operation Peace Spring in Syria with air strikes
As a response to the ceasefire, the SDF commander – Mazloum Kobane Abdi stated
we accepted this agreement, and we will do whatever it takes to make it work.
He highlighted the word agreement and said its Just a beginning and
the Turkish occupation will not continue.
Turkey started the military operations on Oct 9th, 2019, just a day after the U.S announced the military withdrawal from the border area. Turkey argued that the strikes were carried out to restore a peaceful border with its neighbouring country. Also, to facilitate millions of refugees to go back to their homeland.
The main reason for the Turkey troops invasion lies in the fact that there is an unhappiness regarding the Joint Patrolling of the Syrian border of around 8.5 miles along with the U.S forces. Turkey was not satisfied with the patrolling territory as well as the Turkish controlling factors in Syria.
Earlier the US has imposed sanctions against Turkey with regard to the military operation in Syria. one of the reasons for the success of Pence’s mediation for temporary ceasefire was the withdrawal of those sanctions.
The U.S, now will not impose the announced sanctions against Turkey. Turkish foreign ministry official said
We got everything we wanted,
However, the cease-fire agreement does not mention any Turkish withdrawal from Syria.