Syria: Erdogan announces a quadripartite summit on Idleb

Text by: RFI Follow

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Saturday February 22 a summit on March 5 with Russian, French and German leaders to discuss the situation in the province of Idleb.

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With our correspondent in Istanbul, Anne Andlauer

Turkey says it is always ready to confront the Syrian regime to make it back down to Idleb, while activating its diplomacy to avoid having to get there. Most of the negotiations have so far been held with Russia, the main political and military supporter of the Damascus regime.

Russian and Turkish delegations have been commuting in recent weeks between the two countries - a new meeting is also planned in Ankara next week - and the two presidents, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Poutine, spoke on the phone . However, Ankara and Moscow have not yet reached an agreement, while the situation on the ground remains very tense.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to get out of this face-to-face with Russia. This is the main objective of the quadripartite summit to which Germany and France will join, which the Turkish president has announced will be held on March 5. This format had been initiated in Istanbul in October 2018. It was already a question, at the time, of the fate of Idleb.

The Turkish head of state, who wishes to host this new meeting, did not specify if it postponed the expiration date of his ultimatum on Idleb. He had given until the end of February to the Damascus regime to withdraw from all areas that had been bombarded in recent months.

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• Turkey
• Syria

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