In phone call, Erdogan tells Putin to clear Kurdish forces from northern SyriaTurkish president urges his Russian counterpart to implement terms of 2019 agreement that called for a 30-kilometer-deep buffer zone on borderISTANBUL, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday that it was imperative the Kremlin “clear” Kurdish forces from northern Syria.Erdogan has been threatening to launch a new incursion into northern Syria to push out Kurdish forces he blames for a November bomb blast that killed six people in Istanbul.A 2019 agreement between Moscow and Ankara ended another offensive by setting up a 30-kilometer (19-mile) “safe zone” to protect Turkey against cross-border attacks from Syrian territory.Turkey has been pummeling Kurdish positions near the border with artillery fire and drone strikes since November 20 in response to the bomb blast.The Turkish government has blamed the bombing on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and its Syrian affiliate the People’s Protection Units, or YPG."