The leaders of Turkey, Russia, France and Germany on Saturday called for a political solution to Syria’s devastating seven-year civil war and a lasting ceasefire in the last major rebel-held bastion of Idlib.
A joint statement adopted at the end of a major summit in Istanbul, Turkey, said the countries were committed to working “together in order to create conditions for peace and stability in Syria.”
It also “stressed the importance of a lasting ceasefire” in Idlib, while hailing “progress” following a deal last month between Syrian regime supporter Russia and rebel-backer Turkey to create a buffer zone around the northwestern province.
Photo: AFP
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke for several hours with Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel about the Syrian conflict, in which more than 360,000 people have been killed since 2011.
Their statement, read by Erdogan, called for a committee to be established to draft Syria’s post-war constitution before the end of the year, “paving the way for free and fair elections” in the war-torn country.
It also said there was “the need to ensure humanitarian organizations’ rapid, safe and unhindered access throughout Syria and immediate humanitarian assistance to reach all people in need.”
The talks came after a week of escalating violence in Idlib culminated in Syrian regime artillery fire killing seven civilians on Friday, the highest death toll there since the fragile ceasefire began last month.
Following the joint news conference, the leaders spoke separately, with Macron urging Russia to pressure the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to bring about a “stable and lasting ceasefire in Idlib.”
“We rely on Russia to exercise very clear pressure on the regime, which depends on it for survival,” he said.
However, Putin said that if “radicals” were to “launch armed provocations from the Idlib zone, Russia reserves the right to give active assistance to the Syrian government in liquidating this source of terrorist threat.”
Merkel said the leaders “have the duty to prevent another humanitarian disaster.”
“The challenge is to end two wars: The war against terror and the war of the regime against large parts of its own population,” she said. “A solution cannot happen through military means, but only through political negotiations under the leadership of the United Nations.”
A rival UN plan for a committee to write the constitution ran aground last week, with UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura, who attended the summit, saying that Damascus rejected the UN having a role in the selection process.
The summit also addressed the plight of the millions displaced by the grinding conflict, saying that conditions needed to be created “throughout the country for the safe and voluntary return of refugees.”
However, whether those forced to flee the country would be allowed to vote in an election was left for the separate news conferences.
“We must advance with the political process at the end of which there must be free elections open to all Syrians — including those in the diaspora,” Merkel said.
Erdogan, a vocal opponent of al-Assad, agreed, saying that Syrians “inside and outside” the country must decide the Syrian president’s fate.
Aid groups have said that a Syrian government military offensive in Idlib, home to 3 million people, could spark one of the worst humanitarian disasters of the war.
With an assault by government troops seeming imminent, Moscow and Ankara on Sept. 17 agreed to create a 15km to 20km-wide demilitarized zone ringing Idlib as Turkey sought to avoid an attack leading to a further influx of people across its border.
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