Erdoğan,Putin to meet next Thursday to discuss Idlib

PRESIDENT Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Wednesday that he will meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin next Thursday to discuss the plans for a de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria’s Idlib, tabled at the Astana talks earlier this month.

Last week in the Kazakh capital, Turkey, Russia and Iran agreed on deploying hundreds of observers around Idlib to check de-escalation efforts.

Replying to a question on Ankara-Moscow ties and criticisms over Turkey’s purchase of S-400 defense systems from Russia, Erdoğan told the Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York that he will do “whatever necessary” for national security.

He added that he will call Putin Monday and was planning to meet him on Sept. 28.

Turkish state broadcaster TRT later revealed that the talks would take place in Ankara.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian news agency TASS Wednesday that he would provide additional details on the upcoming meeting later.

Earlier on Sept. 10, President Erdoğan said that Turkey was determined to procure the S-400 air defense system, dismissing claims that Ankara might give up on the deal because of strong opposition from NATO.

He also confirmed that a primary deposit for the purchase has already been transferred to Moscow.

Besides the quick recovery of economic relations, following the November 2015 jet-downing crisis, Moscow and Ankara played key roles in stopping the bloodshed in Syria by agreeing and overseeing the evacuation of Aleppo late last December.

Along with Iran, the two countries also took the initiative to bring the Assad regime and the Syrian opposition together in Astana to sustain a ceasefire agreement and negotiate a political transition in the country.

Erdoğan and Putin agreed to lift nearly all sanctions imposed on Turkish services, products, textiles and the construction sector during their last meeting in Sochi on May 3.