Turkey looks to Russia for 'quick cease-fire' in Syria
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will discuss a truce in Turkey's offensive against the Syrian army during talks in Moscow, seeking to avert a new refugee influx even as another humanitarian crisis deepens on Turkey's border with Greece.
ISTANBUL — Turkey hopes negotiations with Russia will yield a truce in northwest Syria, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, less than a week after he launched a military operation to stop the Syrian army’s advance in the last opposition stronghold and prevent a new refugee crisis at its southern border.
Two Turkish soldiers were killed as clashes between the neighboring armies continue, the Defense Ministry said, bringing the death toll to about 60 since January, when Turkey began sending thousands of troops to Idlib province. It also said that more than 3,138 men fighting on behalf of Syria had been “neutralized.”
“Our main topic is securing a quick cease-fire in the region,” Erdogan told reporters one day before traveling to Moscow to meet President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Syria’s main backer that has stepped aside to allow Turkey to pummel the Syrian Arab Army. NATO’s second biggest military launched Operation Spring Shield at the weekend, shooting down three Syrian warplanes and destroying several anti-aircraft systems.
Despite supporting opposite sides in the conflict, Erdogan and Putin have deepened bilateral ties, hammered out several truces in Syria and struck energy and weapons deals, much to NATO’s chagrin. Moscow previously greenlit three Turkish military campaigns that targeted the Islamic State and a Kurdish militia and has given Ankara control of some 3,500 square miles (5,600 square kilometers) of northern Syria.
