Syria: Erdogan issues an ultimatum to Damascus and indirectly to Moscow

Text by: RFI Follow

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday ordered the Bashar al-Assad regime to withdraw its forces from the vicinity of military posts established by Ankara in Idleb province in north-western Syria. The Turkish leader threatened to use force if not. The ultimatum comes after the deaths of eight Turks, including seven soldiers, on Monday in an attack by regime forces in Idleb.

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With our correspondent in Istanbul, Anne Andlauer

Recep Tayyip Erdogan considers the death of seven soldiers and one civilian of the Turkish army in Idleb earlier this week as " a turning point for Turkey in Syria ".

The Turkish president makes a statement of failure. First, that of the agreements signed with Russia, notably that of Sochi in September 2018, which provided for Idleb to become a demilitarized zone and for Turkish soldiers, deployed at a dozen observation posts, to guarantee a ceasefire. -fire. The failure, then, of recent efforts by the Turkish army to prevent the progression of the forces of the Syrian regime, each new advance of which pushes tens of thousands of civilians to the borders of Turkey.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan therefore issued an ultimatum to the Syrian regime and, indirectly, to its Russian ally: " We hope that the regime will withdraw beyond our observation posts before the end of February. If the regime does not withdraw, Turkey will be obliged to take care of it itself ”.

Tayyip Erdogan threatens to intervene militarily to create, in fact, a security zone in Idleb. But putting this threat into practice poses many questions. How, for example, does Turkey intend to prevent the regime from continuing its aerial bombardment when - Tayyip Erdogan himself recognized - the airspace in this area is controlled by Russia? If the threats of the Turkish president are addressed to the Syrian regime, it is with Vladimir Putin, his Russian counterpart, that he is carrying out an arm wrestling today.

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• Turkey
• Recep Tayyip Erdogan
• Syria
• Russia

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