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Turkey-Russia tensions soar after deadly Syria strike
ISTANBUL, Feb 29, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – The leaders of Russia and Turkey held
crisis talks Friday after 33 Turkish soldiers died in an air strike in Syria,
as Ankara ramped up pressure on Europe by threatening to flood in migrants.
The United States and United Nations urged an end to the Russian-backed
Syrian offensive against rebel holdouts, but Turkey appeared intent on easing
tensions with Moscow by pinning the blame squarely on President Bashar al-
Assad’s regime.
The flare-up raised fresh concerns for civilians caught up in the
escalation of the horrific eight-year civil war, with the UN saying nearly a
million people — half of them children — have been displaced in the bitter
cold by the fighting since December.
Thirty-three Turkish troops were killed late Thursday in the air strike in
the northwestern province of Idlib, in the biggest single loss of life by the
Turkish military in years.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
spoke by telephone and looked to scale down tensions, with the Kremlin saying
the two expressed “serious concern” about the situation.
“There is always room for dialogue,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
said.
He said the two leaders spoke of “the necessity to do everything” to
implement a 2018 ceasefire that has since collapsed between the two countries
in Idlib.
Erdogan may travel next week to Moscow for talks, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry
Peskov said. Before the killing of troops, Erdogan spoke of a meeting with
Putin on March 5 but said it would also include the leaders of France and
Germany.
– US condemnation –
US President Donald Trump condemned the attack on Turkish troops in a call
with Erdogan and again urged Russia and Syria to halt the Idlib operation,
the White House said.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the attack “despicable and brazen”
and said the US was looking at ways to support Turkey, a NATO ally that has
recently drifted from the West.
A senior US official, while acknowledging that Turkey had blamed the Assad
regime for the strike, said that Russia closely planned all operations with
Syria.
“Russia is responsible for this offensive — period,” the official said in
Washington on condition of anonymity.
The idea of the “pathetic, keelhauled, draftee Assad military forces
fighting the Turks and some of the opposition forces… is laughable,” he
said.
Turkey said it retaliated by hitting more than 200 regime targets in drone
and artillery bombardments.
The reprisals killed 45 Syrian soldiers in Idlib, according to a monitor,
the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. There was no confirmation from the
Syrian government.
Rebel and Turkish fire also killed 10 fighters from Hezbollah, the Lebanese
Shiite group backed by Iran that is supporting Assad, the Observatory said,
adding that Russian strikes killed seven civilians.
Adding to the tensions, Moscow said two of its warships were transiting
through the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul in plain sight of the city.
– Humanitarian crisis –
At emergency talks on Friday, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia
told the Security Council that Moscow was “ready to de-escalate with anyone
who wants to” in Idlib.
The UN has repeatedly warned that the fighting in Idlib could potentially
create the most serious humanitarian crisis since the start of the Syrian
conflict in 2011.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the world body was planning to
send a humanitarian mission there.
Diplomats said the mission to Idlib could start next week and include
representatives of major UN agencies.
“The most pressing need is an immediate ceasefire before the situation gets
entirely out of control,” Guterres told reporters.
But Russian vetoes, often backed by China, have chronically crippled UN
action.
Turkey again called on the international community to establish a no-fly
zone over Idlib, where Islamist fighters backed by Ankara pose the biggest
obstacle to Assad seizing back control over all of Syria.
On Thursday, jihadists and Turkish-backed rebels had re-entered Saraqeb, a
key Idlib crossroads town they had lost earlier in February — reversing one
of the main gains of the government’s devastating offensive.
– Gates open to migrants –
Erdogan’s communications director Fahrettin Altun accused Assad on Twitter
of “conducting ethnic cleansing” to drive millions out of Idlib, but said
Turkey does not have the resources to accept more refugees.
Turkey has already taken in around four million Syrians and is wary of more
arrivals in the face of growing popular discontent about their presence.
In a move seen as putting pressure on the West, Turkey threatened to go
back on a deal with the EU and open the way for refugees to go into Europe.
“We will no longer keep the doors closed for refugees who want to go to
Europe,” a Turkish official told AFP.
In response, both Bulgaria and Greece said they were tightening border
security as groups of migrants moved westwards across Turkey.
Greek border guards blocked hundreds of migrants from entering the country
at the Kastanies border crossing in the northeast of the country as army
trucks loaded with barbed wire raced past.
The EU called on Ankara to uphold its side of the 2016 migrant pact, in
which the Europeans offered six billion euros in exchange for Turkey stemming
the flow of migrants who had triggered a major backlash in the country.
BSS/AFP/GMR/1000 hrs