NATO Does Not See Sochi Memorandum On Syria As Long-Term Political Solution - Berlin

NATO does not consider the Sochi memorandum on Syria, reached by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin to de-escalate the Turkish offensive in northern Syria, as a long-term political solution, the German Defense Ministry said on Friday

BERLIN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th October, 2019) NATO does not consider the Sochi memorandum on Syria, reached by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin to de-escalate the Turkish offensive in northern Syria, as a long-term political solution, the German Defense Ministry said on Friday.

On Thursday, the NATO member countries' defense ministers discussed a wide range of issues, including the situation in northeast Syria, at a meeting in Brussels.

"They agreed that the Sochi memorandum is not a long-term political solution and stressed the possibility of an international solution, reached with the involvement of the international community," a spokesperson for the ministry said.

When asked about NATO's reaction to German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer's proposal on international troops in the safe zone in northern Syria, the spokesperson redirected the question to the alliance.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said after the meeting that no calls had been made to send NATO troops to northern Syria to try to ease tensions there.

On October 22, Russia and Turkey signed the Sochi agreement on northeast Syria. Under the deal, Russian military police and Syrian border guards are facilitating the withdrawal of Kurdish militia, which Ankara views as a terrorist group, from the 18-mile safe-zone on the Syria-Turkish border.