MOSCOW. Jan 24 (Interfax) - Ankara intends to strengthen its cooperation with Moscow on Syria so as to prevent power vacuum in parts of that country, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday.
"Together with our Russian friends, we intend to strengthen our coordination further. And what is crucial here is to not allow the creation of a power vacuum after the withdrawal of U.S. forces [from Syria]," Erdogan said after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Turkey's only goal as a state is "to fight terror groups, purge the territories from these elements, primarily from ISIL [banned in Russia] and YPG," Erdogan said.