Turkey would tell US authorities during meetings on March 8-9 that it expected Washington to take concrete steps on retrieving the weapons it has provided to the so-called Kurdish People’s Protection Unit (YPG), Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hami Aksoy told a news conference in Ankara on Tuesday.

According To Press TV Askoy also said that Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is scheduled to visit Russia between March 12 and 14, and later meet with his US counterpart Rex Tillerson in Washington on March 19.

Regarded by Ankara as a terrorist organization and the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the YPG forms the largest part of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed anti-Damascus militant group.

Ankara has been waging the so-called Operation Olive Branch against the Kurds in Syria’s Afrin region since January 20 in a bid to eliminate the YPG. Turks have said the offensive could extend to Manbij and beyond.

The offensive came after the US said it would set up a 30,000-strong militant border force at Turkish doorstep.

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