ANKARA, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Turkish and American military officials discussed the safe zone in northern Syria in Ankara on Monday, Turkish Defense Ministry said in a statement.
A U.S. military delegation arrived in the Turkish capital on Sunday for a new round of talks, as past negotiations failed to reach an agreement on jointly creating a safe zone in northern Syria controlled by the Kurdish militia, the People's Protection Units (YPG), seen by Turkey as a terror group.
Ankara has repeatedly requested the creation of a 20-mile (32 kilometers) safe zone in northern Syria and stressed that it wanted the YPG cleared from this area.
On Sunday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkish military forces will enter the eastern part of the Euphrates river in Syria.
Earlier, Turkey's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said Turkey will move to establish the safe zone on its own in case the talks with the U.S. fail.
Ankara and Washington agreed to work together on a safe zone in the YPG-controlled part of Syria early this year after the White House announced a troop withdrawal from Syria.
