President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that
Turkey would "clear terrorists" on its border in northern
Syria if Syrian Kurdish militia did not withdraw by the end of a deadline agreed with Russia.
"If the terrorists are not cleared at the end of the 150 hours, we will take control and clean it ourselves," Erdogan said during a speech in Istanbul, referring to the YPG militia which Turkey views as a "terrorist" offshoot of Kurdish PKK insurgents.
Erdogan and
Russian President
Vladimir Putin agreed a deal in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Tuesday in which
Moscow will "facilitate the removal" of the fighters and their weapons from within 30 kilometres (18 miles) of the border.