On February 4, Tukey’s Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin revealed to reporters that Turkey and Russia had agreed to establish twelve observation posts inside Syria during the Astana talks, according to the Turkish Anadolu Agency.
Kalin added that the Turkish Army had established five posts and it is working to establish the sixth observation post in Idlib governorate.
“We are establishing 12 monitoring positions as part of the Astana process. We’ve established five. We are working on the sixth one now … We will try our best to complete them as soon as possible so that we can secure the Idlib area in the way we discussed and decided at the last Astana meeting,” Kalin told reports according to Anadolu Agency.
Kalin also acknowledged that there was “misunderstandings and miscommunications” between Turkey and Russia regarding the establishment of the new Turkish observation posts in Idlib governorate. However, he said that the both sides had overcome these problems.
On January 30, a convoy of the Turkish Army entered the southeastern Idlib countryside in order to establish an observation post there. However, on January 31 the convoy withdrew after it had been hit by a car bomb.
Later on January 31, Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed to step up efforts to establish observation posts in Idlib governorate during a phone call, according to Reuters.
From its side, the Syrian Arab Army halted its military operations in Idlib governorate on February 4. This confirms that Turkey and Russia reached an agreement to establish observation posts in the southeastern Idlib countryside in order to monitor the de-escalation zone there.