The German government hopes that a demilitarized zone in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib will bring a lasting peace to the region, the cabinet's spokesman Steffen Seibert said Saturday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th October, 2018) The German government hopes that a demilitarized zone in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib will bring a lasting peace to the region, the cabinet's spokesman Steffen Seibert said Saturday.
"It was an important first step to avert a large-scale military offensive and a humanitarian disaster. Now the question is how it can be transformed into a lasting ceasefire in Idlib," he said in a video address.
The spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel made the statement ahead of the flight to Istanbul where Merkel was to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan and France's Emmanuel Macron.
Seibert said the chancellor "is convinced that every opportunity must be explored to end the seven-and-a-half-year suffering and use every communication channel with key actors."
He said the four-party talks were expected to advance a UN-led political process to secure peace in Syria and the launch of a constitutional committee that will allow for a free vote in the future.
