Erdogan: ''Turkey will not leave Syria until elections are held''

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said his country will not leave Syria until a general election is held in the war-torn Middle-Eastern nation.

"Whenever the Syrian people hold an election, we will leave Syria to its owners," Erdogan said at the TRT World forum in Istanbul on Thursday.

Turkey sent troops to Syria in August 2016 to clear a border area of fighters belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also referred to as ISIS).

It launched another operation earlier this year in the northern Syrian enclave of Afrin to remove Kurdish fighters affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Erdogan agreed with President Vladimir Putin of Russia last month to establish a "demilitarised zone" between rebel and government fighters in northern Syria.
The zone, which will have a depth of 15 to 20km will see groups deemed radical by Moscow withdraw from the area by October 15.

Erdogan added on Thursday that Ankara did not encounter difficulties in conducting talks with various rebel factions in northern Syria's Idlib province, the last major rebel-held stronghold that is outside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's control.
Hay'et Tahrir al-Sham, which includes the al-Qaeda-linked group formerly known as al-Nusra Front, is believed to be the most powerful armed group in Idlib.
Turkey designated the group a terrorist organisation in August, matching a decision by the United Nations in June.
On Thursday, Erdogan said that in addition to 12 observation points hosted by Turkey in the Idlib region, Russia has 10 and Iran has six.
"Securing this corridor means securing Idlib," he said. "And we have started fortifying our observation posts."