ANKARA, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Turkish troops would remain in Syria until "the Syrians can live in peace and safety," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.

"We will continue to stay in this country until the Syrian people, our thousand-year-old neighbor and our brothers, achieve freedom, peace and safety," he said while speaking at a presidential meeting in capital Ankara.

The Turkish army has launched operations in northern Syria against the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units and the Islamic State elements in the region.