Ankara’s plan for a safe zone cleared of ISIS in northern Syria was discussed in a Monday meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and EU head Donald Tusk.
“The European Union is ready to take up all issues with Turkey so we also discussed a possible buffer zone in Syria,” Tusk said after meeting Erdogan for talks in Brussels dominated by the migrant crisis and the Syrian conflict.
Western officials had previously cast doubt on the Turkish proposals for a no-fly “safe zone” over northern Syria where refugees could be housed.
Erdogan, a strong opponent of Bashar al-Assad, said the “root cause” of the refugee crisis was the “state-sponsored terrorism actually carried out by Assad himself.”
“If we would like to resolve the refugee issue there are three things we have to do,” he said.
“One is to focus on training and equipment. The second one is to declare a safe zone that would be protected from terrorism and the third is a no-fly zone,” Erdogan added.