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Erdogan hopes to discuss Idlib situation with Putin at G20 summit

Last week, two monitoring posts in Idlib were shelled by mortars. three Turkish servicemen were injured

ISTANBUL, June 20. /TASS/. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is intending to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Japan to discuss the Situation in Syria’s Idlib, the Turkish leader told a closed-door conversation with representatives of foreign mass media, including TASS, on Thursday.

"Russia and Turkey have reached specific agreements on Idlib. We are also working with Iran and have held a number of trilateral Syria summits. We have 12 monitoring posts in Idlib tasked with ensuring security in the region. Unfortunately, the regime [of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad] poses a threat for our observation posts," the President stressed. "But if the agreements in Sochi had not been reached, the refugee flow of 200,000-300,000 people would have headed for our border. We have managed to escape that thanks to the new ceasefire agreement. I am planning to discuss the Idlib issue with President Putin."

Last week, on June 13 and 16, two monitoring posts in Idlib were shelled by mortars. The shelling resulted in three Turkish servicemen being injured. Ankara believes that they were masterminded by the Syrian government army and its backers.

In turn, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that the Russian Aerospace Forces had bombed terrorists, who were shelling the post of the Turkish armed forces, four times, eliminating a large group of militants.