Turkey, Russia meet in Moscow, contend to ceasefire in Idlib

Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, have met at a meeting in Moscow.

At the meeting, which was held on Thursday March 5th, 2020, the two leaders contended to a military cease-fire in Idlib.

After the meeting, which lasted for about six hours, they agreed that the ceasefire would be put in place immediately.

“The deal agrees to cease all military actions along the line of contact in the Idlib de-escalation area starting from 00:01 of March 6, 2020,”
Erdogan in a statement told reporters in Moscow.

The purpose of the deal is for both countries to help curtail suffering of civilians in Idlib.

Putin in a statement said that though Russia did not always agree with Turkish government, but he hopes that the deal would serve as a means to help put an end to the humanitarian crisis in Idlib.

Idlib is a rebel stronghold in Syria and it has witnessed increased violence and bloodshed since last December which has caused more than 300 hundred civilians and at least 100 children deaths.

Similarly, United Nations has called the Syria crisis as “the worst humanitarian crisis in Syrian.

Defence ministers for the two countries also announced that a secure corridor would be established along the east-west highway in Idlib and similarly hold joint patrols which would begin on 15 March.

It was though stated in a statement that the defense ministers of the two countries would decide on the specific parameters of the corridors.

“The specific parameters of the functioning of the security corridor will be agreed between the defense ministries of Turkey and Russia within seven days,” the statement reads.