BALADI NEWS
Turkey has agreed to suspend its Syria offensive for five days and will end the assault if Kurdish-led forces withdraw from a safe zone away from the border, US Vice President Mike Pence and Turkish officials said on Thursday.
The agreement for a five-day ceasefire to allow a Kurdish militia to pull out was hailed by US President Donald Trump as a "great day" for Turkey and the Kurdish population.
Kurdish forces will have to withdraw from an area that is 32 kilometres deep (20 miles), which is expected to eventually become a "safe zone" that Turkey has sought for months, as part of the US-Turkey deal.
The result will be welcomed by the international community after Erdogan had vowed only a day before to press ahead with Turkey's operation, which had been facilitated by the withdrawal of US troops from the area.
The offensive which began on October 9 against Syrian Kurdish fighters who Turkey brands as terrorists had been widely condemned, with many European countries including Germany imposing arms embargoes.
Pence told reporters in Ankara that Turkey's operation "will be halted entirely on completion" of the pullout and following that, the US would withdraw recently imposed sanctions on three Turkish ministers and increased tariffs on its steel industry.
He said that during the temporary ceasefire, Washington "will not be implementing additional sanctions" on Turkey.
Pence said that the Kurdish militia's withdrawal had "already begun" but it was not clear who would police the "safe zone" after the pullout.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu insisted to journalists elsewhere in Ankara that Turkey was "suspending the operation, not halting it".
Ankara considers Syrian Kurdish YPG militants to be an extension the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) -- a group that has fought a bloody insurgency inside Turkey for 35 years.
Source: AFP.