Ankara points fingers as civilians stuck in Aleppo despite cease-fire
Following reports that regime forces are blocking the evacuation of tens of thousands of civilians from Aleppo, Ankara is accusing the Syrian regime and Shiite militias of attempting to sabotage the cease-fire Turkey brokered between Russia and opposition rebels.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused the Syrian regime and what he called “various groups” — an oblique reference to Shiite militias — today of seeking to derail a cease-fire in Aleppo Turkey brokered between Russia and opposition rebels. The country's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to take up the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Cavusoglu said he had already discussed the hitches with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov yesterday and that he would be contacting Iran’s foreign minister as well.
He didn’t elaborate.
Cavusoglu’s comments followed reports that regime forces were blocking the evacuation agreed under the arrangement of tens of thousands of civilians from Aleppo.
Pro-government daily Yeni Safak chronicled today how Turkey’s national spy agency, MIT, played a lead role in securing the truce during three weeks of intense bargaining with Russia and Iran. Among other things, the deal calls for 80,000 civilians and 4,000 rebels to be evacuated from areas previously held by the rebels to opposition-controlled Idlib province.
