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Erdogan accuses Syria regime of undermining Turkey-Russia deal
ANKARA, May 14, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
accused the Syrian regime of “seeking to sabotage” Ankara’s relationship with
Russia through its latest offensive in the northwest of the war-torn country.
Clashes in Idlib province in northwestern Syria have killed at least 42
fighters in 24 hours, a monitor said Monday, and the regime bombardment on
the region has devastated health services.
Idlib’s three million inhabitants are supposed to be protected by a buffer
zone deal signed last September by Russia and Turkey.
Erdogan told his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, during a phone call
late on Monday that the offensive by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces
“sought to sabotage Turkish-Russian cooperation,” according to Fahrettin
Altun, communications director at the Turkish presidency, on Twitter.
The readout of the phone call made no mention of the fact that Russian
forces are involved in the Syrian government’s offensive.
Russia and Turkey are on opposing sides of the conflict, with Moscow
strongly supporting Assad, while Ankara has called for his ouster and
supported Syrian rebels in the civil war since it began in 2011.
But Turkey and Russia have worked closely, along with Iran, to find a
political solution to the conflict.
Erdogan lamented that “the regime’s ceasefire violations targeting the
Idlib de-escalation zone over the last two weeks have reached an alarming
dimension.”
He said it was impossible to explain it as a counter-terror effort given
the number of casualties and damage to health services.
The Turkish leader also warned that the attacks risked undermining the fate
of the political process in Syria.
Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar also spoke by phone with his Russian
counterpart Sergei Shoygu on Tuesday to discuss “measures to de-escalate
tensions” in Idlib, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Syria’s former Al-Qaeda affiliate, controls
most of Idlib province as well as parts of neighbouring Aleppo, Hama and
Latakia provinces.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 16 loyalists and 19 jihadists
died between Sunday and Monday in clashes in the area of Jabal al-Akrad in
Latakia province, which lies on the bastion’s northwestern edge.
Russian and regime aircraft bombarded the area on Monday, while they also
hit southern parts of the jihadist stronghold, said the Britain-based war
monitor.
HTS and its allies launched a counter-attack late Monday, bombing areas in
the north of the province and sparking fierce clashes on the ground,
according to the Observatory.
The civil war in Syria has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced
millions since it started with the brutal repression of anti-government
protests in 2011.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1512 hrs