Turkey to host Syria summit with Russian, French, German leaders

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ISTANBUL, Oct 27, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The leaders of Turkey, Russia, France
and Germany meet in Istanbul on Saturday to try and find a lasting political
solution to the Syrian civil war and consolidate a fragile ceasefire in a
rebel-held northern province.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will host Russian President
Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela
Merkel for a summit on the conflict, in which more than 360,000 people have
been killed since 2011.

Russia, which supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and
Turkey, which backs the rebels, have held previous talks with Iran on the
issue, in efforts that have often been greeted with suspicion in the West.

But Saturday’s summit will be the first to bring together the Turkish and
Russian leaders with the European Union’s two most significant national
leaders.

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Friday that the
primary goal would be to “clarify the steps to be taken for a political
solution and to determine a roadmap”.

Forming a commission to create Syria’s post-war constitution, seen as a
stepping stone to staging elections in the war-torn country, would be a
particular point of emphasis, Kalin told the state-run news agency Anadolu.

The talks will also look to extend a ceasefire around the last major
rebel-held bastion of Idlib, where aid groups have warned that a military
offensive could spark one of the worst humanitarian disasters of the seven-
year war.

With an assault by government troops seeming imminent, last month Russia
and Turkey agreed to create a demilitarised buffer zone ringing Idlib, home
to three million people.

The September 17 deal for the 15-20 kilometre-wide zone came after a
flurry of activity as Turkey sought to avoid an assault leading to a further
influx of people across its border.

However shelling in the area has continued intermittently, and the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian regime artillery fire killed seven
civilians in Idlib on Friday — the highest death toll there since the
ceasefire deal.

– ‘Modest expectations’ –

The participants have damped down hopes of a long-term solution ahead of
the summit, with France’s Elysee palace saying there were “modest
expectations” and Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov urging everyone to be
“realistic”.

Peskov said that while all sides want a political settlement in Syria,
“certain disagreements may exist regarding the instruments and tactics”.

“The issue of the day is to reconcile different formats in order to
synchronise our watches, to negotiate, and to attempt to identify common
topics,” he said.

While two key global players in the Syria conflict — Iran and the United
States — will be absent, Macron said he briefed US President Donald Trump on
strategy this week.

The push by Turkey and Russia has overshadowed a rival United Nations-
backed political process, which has been hampered by the Syrian regime’s
refusal of “any foreign interference” in writing the new constitution.

However France and Germany’s inclusion in Saturday’s summit could help
Turkey’s bargaining position, as all three share the same view of Assad’s
regime, said Jana Jabbour, professor of political science at Sciences Po
university in Paris.

The talks could even let Erdogan “try to normalise relations with Europe”
and show he can be “a good partner with the West” after relations were badly
affected by Ankara’s crackdown over a failed coup in 2016.

The summit will also take place in the aftermath of journalist Jamal
Khashoggi’s murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

Turkish media reported that Erdogan will discuss the crisis in one-on-one
talks with some leaders on the summit’s sidelines.

Anthony Skinner, director for Middle East and North Africa at the Verisk
Maplecroft consultancy, said the summit fits with Ankara’s broader strategy,
“one plank of which is to further solidify its position as a vital working
partner for Russia and the Europeans”.

“This runs in tandem with Erdogan’s attempt to cut MBS back in Saudi
Arabia while bolstering Turkey’s standing in the Middle East,” he said
referring to Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The summit is expected to start at around 4:00 pm (1300 GMT) and the four
leaders are expected to issue a joint statement ahead of individual press
conferences.