SOCHI, Russia, Sept 17, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin
and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Monday to try to come to
an agreement over the Syrian rebel stronghold of Idlib.
The leaders of the two countries are on opposite sides of the deadly seven-
year conflict but remain key global allies.
“We have a lot of issues to discuss, including difficult ones,” Putin said
at the start of the talks at his residence in the Black Sea resort city of
Sochi.
He added that the meeting would help “find solutions for where there are
none yet.”
“I think not just the region, but the entire world has eyes focused on our
meeting today,” Erdogan said for his part, in comments that were translated
into Russian.
“I believe that the statement we will make after the Sochi meeting will
give new hope to the region,” he added.
Russia-backed forces of the Syrian regime have massed around Idlib province
in recent weeks, sparking fears of an imminent air and ground attack to
retake the last major opposition bastion.
The United Nations and non-governmental organisations have repeatedly
warned that such an offensive would unleash a “bloodbath” and “humanitarian
catastrophe” in Idlib, which is home to three million people.
Turkey has intensified negotiations with Russia to avert a possible attack,
repeatedly calling for a ceasefire.
Erdogan and Putin met previously on September 7 in Tehran for a three-way
summit with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani that saw the Russian and Turkish
leaders openly disagree over how to deal with the rebel stronghold, which
borders Turkey.
“The situation with Idlib is acute,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told
RIA Novosti state news agency ahead of the talks Monday.
“There are certain differences in approaches” between the leaders, he
added.
– Mass exodus fears –
The two men met as Turkey’s military has sent significant reinforcements
to Idlib in recent weeks, according to media reports.
They were sent over the border Sunday and included tanks and other
hardware, with a convoy of 50 military vehicles, according to the Hurriyet
daily.
Russia and Iran are key allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s
regime.
Turkey however backs opposition fighters seeking the ouster of the Syrian
leader, and has said a large-scale offensive against the rebels could trigger
a mass exodus towards its border.
Russian and Syrian air strikes, artillery fire and barrel bomb attacks have
killed more than 30 civilians across the province in the past month,
according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The bombardment has slowed over the past week, however, and Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday that the Syrian regime is not preparing a
major offensive against Idlib, adding that Moscow will do everything to
protect civilians.
“What is being presented at the moment as the beginning of a Russian-backed
offensive by Syrian forces is not a faithful representation of the facts,”
Lavrov said.
“We are doing everything to ensure that the civilian population would not
suffer,” he said.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Friday said Turkey was ready
to cooperate with anyone in the fight against terror groups in Syria, but
criticised the Damascus regime for using the presence of jihadist groups to
legitimise a possible operation in Idlib.
The Syrian civil war erupted in 2011, when the Assad regime launched a
vicious crackdown on pro-democracy protests that evolved into a complex
conflict involving jihadists and world powers.
It has killed an estimated 360,000 people and forced millions to flee their
homes.