Talks between the delegations of Turkey and the Russian Federation on the situation in Idlib are over, consultations will continue on Thursday, Anadolu agency reported.
“The talks between the delegations of Turkey and the Russian Federation on the situation in Idlib have been completed in Ankara. Consultations will continue tomorrow”, – the agency wrote on Twitter.
The first stage of negotiations took place on February 8-10 in Ankara amid escalation of tension in northwestern Syria. The second stage of negotiations was held in Moscow on February 17-18. The interdepartmental Russian delegation included the President’s Special Representative for the Syrian Settlement Alexander Lavrentiev and Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Defense. The Turkish delegation is led by Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal.
Earlier, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey has not yet received a satisfactory result in negotiations with the Russian Federation on the Syrian Idlib and is ready for the start of a military operation in this region. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov called it the worst case scenario.
Erdogan also said that he called on Putin to put pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad so that the Syrian army stops the offensive in Idlib province and withdraws from Turkish observation posts by the end of February, otherwise threatening with a military response.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier that Turkey was unable to fulfill several key commitments to solve the problems around Syrian Idlib. In particular, it did not dissociate the armed opposition, which is ready for dialogue with the government in the framework of the political process, from terrorists. In turn, the vice-president of Turkey Fuat Oktay made a statement that the country had fulfilled its obligations under Idlib.