Patrols are still in place to safeguard civilians and maintain stability in the area after a ten-month break.
The Turkish National Defense Ministry has declared that Turkey and Russia have restarted their cooperative ground patrols, which were put on hold last October because of the region’s worsening security conditions.
In the eastern portion of the Operation Peace Spring zone, four vehicles—two Pars and two Kirpi-2—and 24 servicemen resumed their combined patrol activities on Thursday, the ministry announced in a statement on Friday.
As per the terms of the Sochi agreement, which was signed on October 22, 2019, between Ankara and Moscow, the combined patrols are carried out in the east and west of the Peace Spring Operation region.
The first one of these patrols happened on November 1, 2019. By the time coordinated ground patrols were suspended on October 5, 2023, 344 had been carried out.
The goal of maintaining the joint ground patrol operations, according to Turkey’s defense ministry, is to secure Turkey’s borders, safeguard local residents, and bring stability to the northern parts of Syria.
Notably, in a sign of Turkish-Russian cooperation in the fight against terrorism, the patrols also seek to “identify control points, headquarters, and military structures belonging to the PKK/YPG-SDF terrorist organization.”
The ministry stated the PKK “must exit the region” in accordance with agreements made by Turkey, the US, and Russia.
