Turkey's Border Security: SNA took control of town after Turkey launcehd operation. A day after 13 people were killed in a car bomb attack in the Syrian town of Tel Abyad, Turkey's President Erdogan has travelled the Turkish border town of Sanliurfa where many of the injured are being treated.

Kurds are the largest ethnic group in the world without a homeland of their own. Almost half of the world's Kurds live in Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Germany. Most are Sunni Muslims, but many adhere to other faiths. They have faced a long history of violent oppression and discrimination in the countries they live in and their attempts to set up an independent state have repeatedly been quashed. After World War One, they were promised their own state, which never materialized. The defeat of the Ottoman Empire resulted in the end of that opportunity for a Kurdish homeland.

Turkish and Russian troops have concluded their first joint ground patrols in northeast Syria. It's part of an agreement between the two countries to clear the YPG from the Syrian side of Turkey's southern border. It follows Turkey's Peace Spring Operation last month. On Friday, Turkish armoured vehicles drove across the border to join their Russian counterparts. Turkey's Defence Ministry says its forces were involved in patrolling the area of the Syrian town of Darbasiyah.

Turkey and Russia have launched joint ground patrols in northeastern Syria. The operation is part of a deal struck by the countries to end Turkey's offensive against Kurdish militias in the border region and is conducted to remove the Kurdish fighters from the area. The patrols will begin within a 10 kilometer zone along the border. The step cements the power shift in Syria one month after President Trump withdrew US forces from the region.

Turkish and Russian troops are expected to start joint patrols in the so-called "safe zone" in northeast Syria. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has warned Turkey, and rebels in Idlib, that all-out war would be the only option if political solutions fail.

Turkey has handed over 18 Syrian soldiers to Russia that it had captured in Syria on Thursday, October 31. They were handed over to Russian military police near Darbasiyah in northeastern Syria. Turkey said on Thursday that the soldiers had been captured in an intelligence-gathering operation, while a Syrian Kurdish official said that they had been captured in battle. The capture of the men is a dramatic example of the muddled battleground of northeastern Syria following the withdrawal of US forces from the area and the deployment of Turkish, Russian and Syrian troops.(AP)

Fighting has intensified near the northeast Syrian town Tal Tamr as the Syrian army and SDF fighters fought with opposition forces determined to expand their influence in the safe zone. Turkey and Russia plan to start joint patrols of the area on Friday.

The Turkish parliament has condemned a resolution by US lawmakers, recognizing the events of 1915 involving Armenians as a so-called 'genocide'. Ankara has rejected the anti-Turkish resolution, questioning the motives behind it.

"Washington has used the Armenian genocide as a bargaining chip with Turkey"

Turkey’s government has given Syrian refugees a deadline to move back to the areas they were registered in or risk deportation back to their war-torn home country.

US House recognizes Armenian genocide although Turkey's proposal on the establishment of a joint historical commission was rejected by the Armenian side in 2005.

Turkey's president says tens of thousands of Kurdish-led forces have withdrawn from a border zone in northeast Syria. The pullout was completed before the deadline, set for Tuesday. It paves the way for Russian and Turkish forces to begin joint patrols in the region.

21-27 October 2019