Turkey refuses to recognize April elections to Syrian parliament
Turkey will not recognize the elections to the Syrian parliament, which the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, wants to hold in April this year, said Turkish presidential advisor Ibrahim Kalin, as cited by Anadolu agency.
He noted that the upcoming elections will not be legitimate for Ankara, Damascus or the international community.
The day before, Assad signed a decree to hold elections to the People's Council (unicameral parliament) of the country on April 13, 2020.
The conflict between Ankara and Damascus escalated after the beginning of mutual shelling of the Syrian government army and the Turkish military. In late January, Turkey launched Operation the Spring Shield.
On 10 February, the situation in Idlib escalated after the Syrian army shelled Turkish positions killing five Turkish soldiers. Turkey retaliated striking 115 Syrian army targets. The Russian military also took part in the fighting. In particular, a group of Su-24 bombers attacked pro-Turkish militants who broke through the defense of the Syrian army near the town of Nayrab.
On February 28, Ankara said the Syrian military carried out an airstrike on Turkish positions, killing 33 people and injuring 32 others. In response, Turkey attacked Syrian army positions.
Commenting on the course of the operation, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that more than 3.2 thousand Syrian soldiers were killed as a result of the fighting. On the morning of March 4, two Turkish soldiers were killed in an attack by Assad's army in Idlib.