Turkeys Chief of Staff Yaar Gler and his U.S. counterpart Joseph Dunford on Saturday discussed a planned safe zone in northeast Syria on the sidelines of a NATO conference in Slovenia, the Turkish defence ministry said.

Gler and Dunford held a bilateral meeting at NATO Military Committee Conference and the Turkish chief of staff shared Ankara's expectations on the planned safe zone, the defence ministry statement said.

The United States and Turkey last month agreed to establish a safe zone in northeast Syria to address Ankaras security concerns about the Kurdish-led Peoples Protection Units (YPG), which have been key to the U.S.-led fight against the Islamic State.

Turkey sees the YPG as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), an armed group that has been at war in Turkey for more than 30 years, and hasrepeatedly threatenedto invade the area if the United States is unable to agree to its terms on the safe zone.

Despite the deal, there are still disagreements between the two allies over several issues about the safe zone, notably the depth of the safe zone and the fate of YPG in the region.

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Turkish, US army chiefs discuss planned Syrian safe zone at NATO summit - Ahval