Turkey hosts Putin, Merkel, and Macron at four-way summit on Syria conflict in Istanbul
The four-way summit on Syria issue is being held in Istanbul today with the participation of leaders of Turkey, Russia, Germany and France. It is reported that the agenda at the summit will be the consolidation of the cease-fire in Syria and joint efforts for a political solution to the crisis. Turkey’s President ERDOGAN will host the summit to be held in Istanbul on Saturday, October 27th.
Presidential spokesman Ibrahim KALIN stated on September 14th that technical delegations of the four countries had agreed to stop the conflict as of priority and support a political solution instead of a military solution.
The German authorities on the other hand stated that Turkey had undertaken a very special responsibility with the Sochi agreement and they supported the agreement and hoped the Istanbul summit would contribute to the implementation of the reconciliation agreement.
France sees the summit as an “opportunity” to accelerate the establishment of the constitutional committee and initiate the political process.
Russia draws attention that the summit should not be expected to deliver a solid result as a turning point and that it will be an important platform for exchanging ideas for cooperation between the four countries.
Topics such as developments in the field, the situation in IDLIB after the Sochi consensus and the process of political settlement on Astana and Geneva platforms will form the agenda of the summit. At the meeting it is aimed to harmonize the joint efforts of the four countries to find a permanent solution to the Syrian crisis. At the end of the meeting, four countries are expected to declare a joint statement.
As for the most recent situation in IDLIB the picture is as follows; Following agreement reached by Turkey and Russia on September 17, the opposition groups (military dissidents) completed the process of withdrawal of heavy weapons from the designated disarmament territory, on 10 October. It was announced that a large part of the radical groups had withdrawn from the region as well. It was also reported that the forces of Bashar al-Assad regime had been continuing the artillery attacks on the territory of the Idlib Tension Reduction Zone since 17 September
