President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Turkey will return Syria's Afrin to its residents.
"Afrin would be handed over to its residents when the time comes", Erdogan told reporters in the parliament.
"But, we will define the time," Turkish President added.
Sergey Lavrov on Monday urged Ankara to return Afrin to the Bashar al-Assad goverment.
The Syrian government has condemned the capture of Afrin by the Turkish military, calling on Ankara to “immediately” pull out troops from the Northwestern Syrian city.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry voiced strong opposition to Turkey’s takeover of Afrin in two letters to the United Nations, protesting the move as "illegitimate”.
