They agreed to "intensify consultations" on the Idleb crisis. Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose respective armies are on the offensive in Syria in support of the opposing camps, spoke on the phone on Friday February 21 to discuss the situation in the Syrian region of Idleb.
According to the Kremlin, the Russian president assured his Turkish counterpart to be "gravely concerned" by the "aggressive actions" of the jihadists in the region, while Ankara says he urged Vladimir Putin to "slow down" the Syrian regime in its advance and thus ending the fighting.
The offensive led by President Bashar al-Assad's regime with Moscow's support to retake Idleb, the last rebel stronghold in the north-west of the country, has seriously undermined the understanding between the two heads of state who have been cooperating closely since 2016 to end the conflict in Syria, where they nevertheless support opposing camps.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan also stressed that a solution to the explosive situation in Idleb requires "the full implementation of the Sochi agreement", sponsored in 2018 by the two leaders to silence arms in the province but which vacillated for several weeks.
"The two leaders have said they are committed to respecting all agreements" between the two sides, added the Turkish presidency.
Discussion around a summit
Before this interview, Erdogan discussed the situation in Idleb on the phone with French leaders Emmanuel Macron and German Angela Merkel, whom he called for "concrete actions to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe".
They "have expressed their willingness to meet President Putin and Turkish President Erdogan to find a political solution to the crisis," said the German Chancellery.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said in Moscow on Friday that "the possibility of holding a summit is under discussion".
With Reuters and AFP
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