Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu held on Friday a joint press conference after negotiations in Moscow with Syria topping the agenda.
“Turkey is one of Russia’s key partners, we see an increase in our economic relations. And we intend to build up our military-technical cooperation,” Lavrov said in his speech.
The top Russian diplomat said the two ministers have also discussed Syria and the speedy completion of work to create the Syrian Constitutional Commission.
“We discussed international problems, focused on Syria, reviewed implementation of the agreements reached within the framework of the Astana format at the highest level, at the level of experts, reviewed implementation of the decisions by the Congress of the Syrian National Dialogue that took place in Sochi within the framework of creating a constitutional commission, this work continues. We discussed the tasks of its prompt completion,” Lavrov told a press conference.
A joint meeting of Russian and Turkish foreign, defense ministers will be held in Moscow, where the sides will discuss the situation in Idlib, Syria, according to Lavrov.
“These issues [situation in Idlib] are being discussed between foreign ministries, they are being discussed between our military, intelligence services, the [Turkish] defense minister is now in Moscow. We have not finished this work today, we will have an additional meeting with the participation of all our colleagues,” Lavrov told a press conference.
The Russian foreign minister has called for minimizing the risks to the population of Idlib, saying that “the de-escalation zone was not created so that fighters could hide behind peaceful citizens.”
Idlib Offensive to Cause “Catastrophe”
For his part, Turkey’s Foreign Minister warned against a possible Syrian government offensive on the last remaining insurgent stronghold.
Cavusoglu said Russia and Turkey should work to separate opposition groups from terrorists in the northwestern province of Idlib.
He warned against an offensive there, saying that it will cause a “humanitarian catastrophe.”
Source: Agencies
