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Putin-Erdogan talks on Idlib crucial for resolving Syria issue, expert says

The talks are expected to take place on Thursday

ANKARA, March 5. /TASS/. Talks on Idlib between Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Vladimir Putin of Russia, which are expected to take place on Thursday, are highly important for political efforts to resolve the Syria issue, Turkish analyst Imbat Muglu told TASS on Wednesday.

"The Moscow talks on Syria between the presidents of Turkey and Russia, Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin, are highly important for political efforts to resolve the situation in Syria," he said. "I don’t rule out that the Presidents Erdogan and Putin have different expectations for the March 5 meeting. I believe that Mr. Erdogan will seek to make sure that the [Assad] regime’s army retreats in Idlib, and will also try to find a joint solution to the refugee issue. On the other hand, Mr. Putin expects Turkey to put up with the fact that the [Assad] regime has recently taken control of certain areas in Idlib," the expert added.

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According to the Turkish analyst, "if the terms put forward by the two leaders prove too different, it will be difficult to achieve results during the Moscow negotiations."

Muglu was hopeful that the two leaders would manage to achieve progress on Idlib. "The Moscow talks may turn out to be Ankara’s last diplomatic effort aimed at settling the Syria issue," he noted. "Turkey will not accept the roadmap that Russia proposed during the recent talks [between the two countries’ delegations]. I hope that Russia will come up with another roadmap that would satisfy Ankara," he added.

A meeting between Putin and Erdogan is planned to take place in Moscow on March 5. According to the Kremlin press service, the two presidents are expected to discuss "ways to resolve the Syria issue with a focus on the current tensions in the Idlib de-escalation zone."

Idlib tensions

The situation in Idlib escalated on February 27, when militants attempted to carry out a large-scale offensive. The Syrian Army conducted a strike on them, which, according to Ankara, killed 36 Turkish troops. After that, the Turkish Air Force carried out airstrikes on Syrian positions. Turkey claimed to have hit more than 200 targets.

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