Turkey’s presidential spokesman on Monday called on Russia and Iran to ensure the full implementation of a deal on Idlib that was signed during talks in Astana in 2018, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
“The [Bashar al-Assad] regime must immediately stop its attacks [in Idlib] carried out on the pretext of terrorist elements,” said İbrahim Kalın, speaking at a conference in Turkey’s central province of Konya.
Kalın said the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib was designated as a de-escalation zone under the guarantee of Turkey and Russia, but the Assad regime continues to target the region to gain more territory in a blatant violation of the Idlib deal.
“The solution [in Syria] is that a political process be immediately put into motion,” he said, warning that another humanitarian crisis was on the horizon if a political solution was not agreed upon.
The escalation of conflict in Idlib has led thousands of Syrians to move towards the Turkish border. On Friday some Syrians protested the Turkish government for failing to protect them from the regime’s attacks.
Turkey and Russia agreed last September to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone where acts of aggression were expressly prohibited.
Under the deal opposition groups in Idlib would remain in areas where they were already present, while Russia and Turkey would carry out joint patrols to prevent a resumption of fighting.
Both Moscow and Ankara accuse each other of breaking the agreement.