Putin: Russia understands Turkey’s concern regarding Syria
At the end of a visit by the Turkish president to Russia on Tuesday August 27, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave a joint press conference. The leaders drew special attention to one of the key topics discussed in Zhukovsky.
“We believe that at this stage we need to focus on stabilizing the situation in Syria ‘on the ground’ and advance the political resolution process in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2254,” Putin told the press.
The Russian head of state said that Russia understands why Turkey is concerned to secure its border with Syria, and considers these “legitimate interests”.
“Turkey is carrying a heavy burden related to [Syrian] refugees, we are well aware of this, over three million people. Speaking of which, the normalization of the situation in Syria will result in many people returning to their homes. Over three hundred thousand came from abroad and a million internally displaced persons have returned to their homes. We understand Turkey’s concern regarding the security of its southern citizens. We consider these legitimate interests of the Turkish Republic,” Putin stressed.
The Russian president believes that establishing a safe zone for Turkey on its southern border would be a good condition for ensuring the territorial integrity of Syria itself. “In this regard, we will support any conditions aimed at de-escalation in this zone,” he added.
Turkish President Erdogan, in turn, said that the actions of the Syrian government army in Idlib are making it hard to comply with the Russian-Turkish Sochi memorandum to create a demilitarized zone in north-western Syria.
“With President Vladimir Putin, we touched on the Syrian topic, especially the Idlib de-escalation zone. Following the Sochi memorandum, which we signed in September last year, we attained relative stability. However, unfortunately, since May, [Syrian] government troops have been bombing even civilian facilities and breaking this relative calm. Unfortunately, it also makes it harder to comply with the Sochi memorandum,” said Erdogan.
The Turkish leader arrived in Moscow on Tuesday for a single-day visit to discuss, primarily, the “greater Idlib” region (the provinces of Idlib and Hama and part of Aleppo and Latakia). During the talks, the leaders were also expected to touch on matters related to the further development of bilateral cooperation in the areas of politics, economics, military technology and humanitarian concerns, as well as pertinent aspects of the international and regional agenda, the Kremlin’s press service announced earlier.
On August 27, Putin and Erdogan attended the opening ceremony of the Max 2019 Air Show in Zhukovsky.