Turkey-Russia tensions soar after deadly Syria airstrike
01 March, 2020
The leaders of Russia and Turkey held crisis talks Friday after 33 Turkish soldiers died within an airstrike in Syria, as Ankara ramped up pressure on Europe by threatening to flood in migrants.
The United States and US urged an end to the Russian-backed Syrian offensive against rebel holdouts, but Turkey appeared intent on easing tensions with Moscow by pinning the blame squarely on President Bashar Assad’s regime.
The flare-up raised fresh concerns for civilians caught up in the escalation of the horrific eight-year civil war, with the U.N. saying practically a million persons - half of these children - have already been displaced in the bitter cold by the fighting since December.
Thirty-three Turkish troops were killed late Thursday in the air strike in the northwestern province of Idlib, in the largest single lack of life by the Turkish military in years.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone and looked to scale down tensions, with the Kremlin saying the two expressed “serious concern” about the problem.
“There's always room for dialogue,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
He said the two leaders spoke of “the need to do everything” to implement a 2018 ceasefire which has since collapsed between your two countries in Idlib.
Erdogan may travel this week to Moscow for talks, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Before the killing of troops, Erdogan spoke of a gathering with Putin on March 5 but said it would likewise incorporate the leaders of France and Germany.
U.S. President Donald Trump condemned the attack on Turkish troops in a call with Erdogan and again urged Russia and Syria to prevent the Idlib operation, the White House said.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the attack “despicable and brazen” and said the U.S. was looking at ways to support Turkey, a NATO ally that has recently drifted from the West.
Source: the-japan-news.com