GENOA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th March, 2020) Syrian opposition figures told Sputnik they believe that the presidents of Russia and Turkey during their upcoming talks are likely to agree on creating a safe zone in Syria's north to facilitate the return of Syrian refugees, as well as on modifying the bilateral Sochi agreement on the demilitarization of Syria's Idlib province.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will discuss the settlement in Syria in light of the recent escalation in Idlib on Thursday in Moscow, the Kremlin's press service said on Tuesday. Fighting in Idlib escalated last week after jihadists launched an operation against Syrian government troops, prompting retaliatory attacks, after which the Turkish military said that more than 30 service members had been killed by the Syrian forces. The Russian Defense Ministry said that the Turkish military members, who were among the terrorists for an unknown reason, had become caught up in the attack. Several rounds of talks between the Russian and Turkish delegations to settle the situation in Idlib have been held, but no agreement was reached.
"They can agree on creating a safe zone along the border with Turkey, 25 kilometers [15.6 miles] deep, to facilitate the return of refugees," Mahmoud Afandi, the secretary of Syrian opposition movement Popular Diplomacy, told Sputnik.
The situation in Idlib has led to a fresh influx of migrants to the European Union. As tensions between the Turkish and Syrian militaries were escalating, Erdogan announced last Saturday that Turkey would no longer be able to restrain the flows of migrants and refugees, and opened its border with the bloc. Since the announcement, thousands of migrants have been blocked at the border.
Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell and Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarсic are traveling to Ankara on Tuesday to discuss Idlib and the refugee situation.
Ayham Ghazzi, a member of the opposition Syrian Negotiation Commission, suggested that Turkey had "a green light to go inside Syria," noting that Ankara would try to establish a demilitarized zone in the north of the country and drive migrants there.
"The Turks will push some of the refugees there because they need this card in bargaining with the western countries," Ghazzi told Sputnik.
Dima Moussa, the vice-president of the opposition Syrian National Coalition and a Syrian constitutional committee member, told Sputnik that the idea of creating the safe zone in Syria along the border with Turkey had previously been discussed but lacked momentum for being implemented.
"While on the short-term, it might be an option to provide safe space to the [internally displaced persons] in Syria and refugees who might choose to come back. It is not a long-term solution, as this would mean squeezing millions into a small strip that does not have the proper infrastructure to contain the massive number of people," Moussa argued.
Apart from the refugee situation, Putin and Erdogan are also expected to review the deal on the demilitarized zone in Idlib, which they signed in Russia's Sochi in September 2018. The agreement stipulated that all heavy weaponry operated by rebel Syrian groups must be pulled back, while radical militants � including members of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorist group, previously known as the Nusra Front (banned in Russia) � were to leave the zone.
Russia has repeatedly insisted that Turkey has failed to implement its commitments under the 2018 deal, particularly, failing to distinguish between members of the armed opposition, who are ready for engaging in peace talks with the government, and jihadists.
"I think the outcome of the upcoming summit between Erdogan and Putin is a new Sochi agreement with some modifications like a demilitarization zone, joint patrols on the borders, Russian and Turkish supervision on M5, M4 [highways] without any links and coordination with the Syrian regime," Ghazzi said.
Afandi noted that the implementation of the Sochi agreement in its current state was "impossible."
"Nevertheless, the Astana agreement of May 2017 will be reinforced, and after the talks between Putin and Erdogan there may well be a trilateral summit of the Astana format with the participation of [Iranian President Hassan] Rouhani," Afandi said.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier on Tuesday that a trilateral meeting between Putin, Erdogan and Rouhani was on the agenda, noting that it would be held after the schedules of the three leaders are coordinated.
The three leaders regularly meet to discuss Syria, as Russia, Iran and Turkey are the guarantor states of the Syrian ceasefire. In May 2017, the truce guarantors agreed to set up four de-escalation zones in Syria during talks in Kazakhstan.
"In the context of the urgent situation in Idlib, we would like to see the two countries [Russia and Turkey] come to an agreement that will result in imposing an immediate ceasefire to stop the Syrian regime forces from continuing the military escalation that is causing the humanitarian crisis in northwestern Syria, and mechanisms to ensure that it is sustainable so that we can proceed with the political process to reach a comprehensive political solution according to UNSC resolution 2254 ... The most important thing is to reach a ceasefire, and implement a solution that will not give any spoilers the chance or excuse to violate it," Moussa said.
Syria has called on the international community to condemn Turkey's actions on its soil and put an end to what it sees as the Turkish leadership's support for terrorism in the wake of the recent attack conducted by jihadists in the Idlib province, state news agency SANA reported, citing an official source in the foreign ministry.
