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ANKARA (Sputnik) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his US counterpart Donald Trump during a phone conversation agreed to speed up negotiations on the creation of a security zone in northeastern Syria, the Turkish leaders administration said on Sunday.

Today, our president held a phone conversation withhis US counterpart Donald Trump. President Erdogan said Turkey was ready totake urgent security measures inthe Manbij region toprevent the PKK-YPG [Kurdistan Workers Party Kurdish People's Protection Units] fromdestabilizing the situation. The leaders also agreed tospeed upthe negotiations initiated bythe heads ofthe headquarters ofthe two countries tocreate a security zone inSyria", the statement says.

The parties agreed totake measures toeliminate the remnants ofthe Daesh* terrorist group inSyria and toprevent its revival, it added.

Erdogan also expressed his condolences toTrump inconnection withthe death ofthe US troops asa result ofthe terrorist attack inManbij, adding that this provocation is aimed atinfluencing the decision ofthe US President towithdraw US troops fromSyria.

READ MORE: US Delivering Javelin, TOW Anti-Tank Missile Systems toYPG inManbij Report

On Tuesday, Erdogan said, followinga phone conversation withTrump, that the latter had proposed creating a 30-kilometer (18-mile) buffer zone inSyria. The Turkish leader recalled that he had come witha similar initiative asfar back aswhen Barack Obama was president, butthe proposal never came topass. According toErdogan, the future security zone will be controlled bythe country's military.

AFP 2018 / DELIL SOULEIMAN

The Turkish later said that he had decided topostpone the start ofthe military operation inSyria aftera phone conversation withTrump on14 December, duringwhich the US president also revealed his plans towithdraw troops fromSyria.

On Wednesday, nearly two dozen people, including US servicemen, were killed inManbij inan explosion forwhich the Daesh terrorist group claimed responsibility.

READ MORE: Kremlin Confirms Information onSyrian Army Taking Control ofManbij

The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) left Manbij atthe end oflast year amidfears that Ankara would launch a military operation there againstthem. The city is controlled byDamascus atthe moment.

Following Trump's announcement, advisers inhis administration have reportedly scrambled toslow or derail the withdrawal bywarning that Daesh has not yet been defeated, inspite oflosing an estimated 99 percent ofthe territory the militants previously amassed inSyria and Iraq.

*Daesh (also known asISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist organization banned inRussia.

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