The refugee issue in northwestern Syria can be resolved after a Russian-Turkish memorandum on creating a demilitarized zone in the Syrian province of Idlib is fully implemented, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th June, 2019) The refugee issue in northwestern Syria can be resolved after a Russian-Turkish memorandum on creating a demilitarized zone in the Syrian province of Idlib is fully implemented, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.The UN regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis, Panos Moumtzis, said on Monday that up to 2 million refugees could flee to Turkey if fighting in northwestern Syria continued.
"Apparently, this statement is about Syrians, who are now in the Idlib de-escalation zone, where they are in the position of powerless hostages of the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group [banned in Russia], which ... is now terrorizing not only civilians but also armed groups that are not part of this terrorist group," Lavrov said, adding that the full implementation of the Sochi memorandum was the way to resolve the refugee issue.
Lavrov was speaking at a press conference following talks with Grenadian Foreign Minister Peter David in Moscow.
During the talks in the Russian resort city of Sochi last September, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, agreed to set up a demilitarized zone in Idlib along the contact line between armed opposition and government forces.
The northwestern Idlib province is home to scores of various groups, including the Turkey-backed National Front for Liberation and Jabhat al-Nusra terror group. Around 30,000 militants, including foreign mercenaries, are currently operating in the region.
