Turkey, Russia agree for a ceasefire in all of Syria

Ankara, Dec. 28: Turkey and Russia have prepared an agreement for a ceasefire in Syria, Turkey’s foreign minister said on Wednesday, adding Ankara would not budge on its opposition to President Bashar al-Assad staying on as leader.

The comments from Mevlut Cavusoglu appeared to signal tentative progress in talks aimed at reaching a truce. While the insistence on Assad’s departure could complicate negotiations with his biggest backer Russia, a Turkish official did not rule out a transitional role for the president.

But in a speech in Ankara after the report was published, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made no reference to the plan, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he could not answer on an issue “about which I don’t have enough information”. — Agencies

LAST WEEK, Russia, Iran and Turkey had agreed that the priority in Syria was to fight terrorism and not to remove Assad’s government