Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday agreed to set up a demilitarized zone in the Syrian province of Idlib by October 15.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th September, 2018) Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday agreed to set up a demilitarized zone in the Syrian province of Idlib by October 15.
Earlier in the day, the two leaders held a meeting in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi, which lasted almost 4.5 hours.
According to Putin, participants of the meeting have been able to make considerable progress on Idlib, which is one of the remaining strongholds of insurgency in the country.
The heavy weaponry is expected to be removed from the area by October 10, the Russian leader said. The demilitarized zone, 9.5-12 miles wide, will be established by October 15.
Russian military police and Turkish forces will be patrolling the demilitarized zone in Idlib along the contact line between the armed opposition and the government troops, Putin added.
The Russian leader pointed out that in general, this approach was supported by Damascus.
"In general, this approach is supported by the leadership of the Syrian Republic, in the near future we will hold additional consultations," Putin said.
Erdogan stressed that he and Putin had agreed to resolve the issues of Idlib in the spirit of the Astana process.
"Territories that are under control of the Syrian opposition must be demilitarized. The opposition that controls these territories will remain there, but at the same time together with Russia we will take every effort to eliminate all radical groups from these territories. We will make every effort to do this," Erdogan said.
The transit along the Aleppo-Latakia and Aleppo-Hama highways is expected to be restored no later than by the end of 2018, Putin said.
The two leaders touched upon some issues related to the bilateral ties.
Erdogan highlighted positive trends in Russian-Turkish trade ties. According to the Turkish president, the Russian-Turkish trade grew by 31 percent last year, while in 2018, it further increased by 33 percent.
Putin expressed hope for "the establishment of the environment conducive to the promotion of the Russian goods on the Turkish market."
He added that 4.7 million Russians visited Turkey in the first six months of 2018, surpassing the number of tourists from any other country.
The Russian president said that Ankara and Moscow were prepared to further cooperate to ensure comfortable and safe stay for Russian tourists in Turkey.
