Erdogan welcomes Putin to Syria summit скачать в хорошем качестве

Erdogan welcomes Putin to Syria summit

(16 Sep 2019) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin to Ankara on Monday, for talks aimed at finding a lasting political solution to Syria's civil war, now in its ninth year. Despite divergent interests in Syria, Erdogan and Putin have been building closer ties, having met seven times in 2019 alone. Russia has delivered two batteries of the S-400 surface to air missile systems to Turkey and the two countries are cooperating on energy deals. Topping the agenda of Monday's meeting, which will also be attended by Iran, is the volatile situation in Idlib - the last remaining rebel stronghold in Syria - where a cease-fire went into effect at the end of August, following a wide four-month offensive by government forces. Putin and Iran's Hassan Rouhani are key allies of Syrian President Bashar Assad while Turkey backs Syrian rebels seeking to oust him. A major offensive was averted last September when Erdogan and Putin agreed in the Russian resort town of Sochi to set up a demilitarized zone in Idlib and open two major highways. Those plans, as well as a Turkish pledge to tame armed groups in Idlib, dominated by the al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, have largely failed. The three leaders were also expected to take up Turkish and American plans for a so-called "safe zone" in northeastern Syria, to meet Turkish demands for US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces that Ankara considers terrorists, alleging they have ties to a Kurdish insurgency within Turkey, pushed farther from its border. Ankara is also lobbying for a plan to resettle displaced Syrians in Turkey-controlled zones across northern Syria. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...