RTMon, 17 Sep 2018 18:47 UTC
© Sergey Guneev / Sputnik
Russia and Turkey have agreed a "demilitarized zone" between militants and government troops in Syria's Idlib, President Vladimir Putin said after hours-long talks with Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan focused on solving the crisis.
"We've focused on the situation in the province of Idlib, considering presence of large militant groups and their infrastructure there," Putin said at a press conference after the talks.
"We've agreed to create a demilitarized zone between the government troops and militants before October 15. The zone will be 15-20km wide, with full withdrawal of hardline militants from there, including the Jabhat Al-Nusra."
As part of solving the deadlock, all heavy weaponry, including tanks and artillery, will be withdrawn from the zone before October 10, Putin said.
The zone will be patrolled by Turkish and Russian military units.Before the end of the year, roads between Aleppo and Hama, and Aleppo and Latakia must be reopened for transit traffic, he said.
The agreement has received "general support" from the Syrian government, according to Putin.The deal and other issues of Russian-Turkish ties apparently took almost 5 hours to shape out. In what appears to be a breakthrough solution, Putin and Erdogan have agreed to ensure peace with the help of Russian and Turkish troops.
"The territory controlled by the Syrian opposition must be demilitarized and the Syrian opposition that is holding these territories will remain there. But together with Russia we will make efforts to clear these territories of radical elements," Erdogan said.The agreement is designed to prevent a new "humanitarian crisis" in Syria, Erdogan stressed, and it will help Turkey to avoid an even more "difficult situation."
He had previously warned of a surge in refugees hitting the country should a full-blown war break out in Idlib.
Comment: Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu
told journalists following the Putin-Erdogan announcement that a new military operation in the Syrian province of Idlib was now off the agenda:
The defense ministries of Russia and Turkey signed a memorandum on Monday on the stabilization of the situation in the zone of de-escalation in Syria's Idlib. The document was signed following bilateral talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, held on Monday in the Russian southern resort city of Sochi.
Asked by a journalist whether it was true that no more military operations were planned to be held in Idlib, the Russian defense minister said "Yes [it is true]."
"In the hours to come, we plan to make final agreements with them [the Turkish side] on the remaining provisions, which are stipulated in this document," Shoigu said.
The press statements by Putin and Erdogan:
Turkey's turn towards the East is all but complete. However this demilitarized zone plays out, Turkish-Russian cooperation is further cemented by this arrangement. We're now a long way from that 'Turkish' shoot-down of a Russian jet in late 2015.
With this memorandum, Erdogan gets his way in protecting 'FSA' militias loyal to Turkey, and preventing another wave of refugees (and who-knows-what terrorists) from crossing the border, while Putin gets to further isolate US/Western forces from having any reason to be anywhere in Syria.
Putin mentioned, in passing, that Damascus is supportive of this arrangement "in general," so Syria has apparently little choice but to accept that this arrangement is 'above its pay-grade'. As much as Russia is serious about honoring its fundamental agreement with Syria to have military presence there in exchange for liberating all of Syria from terrorists, it's apparently more important to Russia at this point to win other friends in the region on the way towards that goal.
See also:
Erdogan: Turkey will cooperate with Russia on eliminating terrorists in Idlib, Syria
Comment: Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told journalists following the Putin-Erdogan announcement that a new military operation in the Syrian province of Idlib was now off the agenda: The press statements by Putin and Erdogan:
Turkey's turn towards the East is all but complete. However this demilitarized zone plays out, Turkish-Russian cooperation is further cemented by this arrangement. We're now a long way from that 'Turkish' shoot-down of a Russian jet in late 2015.
With this memorandum, Erdogan gets his way in protecting 'FSA' militias loyal to Turkey, and preventing another wave of refugees (and who-knows-what terrorists) from crossing the border, while Putin gets to further isolate US/Western forces from having any reason to be anywhere in Syria.
Putin mentioned, in passing, that Damascus is supportive of this arrangement "in general," so Syria has apparently little choice but to accept that this arrangement is 'above its pay-grade'. As much as Russia is serious about honoring its fundamental agreement with Syria to have military presence there in exchange for liberating all of Syria from terrorists, it's apparently more important to Russia at this point to win other friends in the region on the way towards that goal.
See also: Erdogan: Turkey will cooperate with Russia on eliminating terrorists in Idlib, Syria