Erdogan Holds Talks With Putin As Truce In Syria Set To Expire

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey held talk with Vladimir Putin at the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Tuesday, hours before a ceasefire between Turkish and Kurdish forces in northern Syria will elapse.

According to the Kremlin, the talks will focus on “normalising the situation” in northeast Syria.

Northeast Syria has experienced calm since Turkey agreed on Thursday to a 120-hour pause in hostilities to allow Kurdish-led fighters and Ankara consider to withdraw from the border area.

The United States-brokered truce is set to expire at 19:00 GMT on Tuesday.

“The situation in the region is very severe,” Putin told Erdogan as talks began in Sochi. He added that the good rapport between Russia and Turkey, which back opposing sides in Syria’s war, “will let us find an answer to even the most difficult questions”.

Recall that on October 9 Turkey launched its offensive in northeast Syria, tagged ‘Operation Peace Spring’ aimed creating a “safe-zone” cleared of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

Ankara wants to resettle some of the 3.6million refugees it currently hosts inside the so-called “safe zone”. 

Erdogan, earlier before talks with Putin, said Ankara would resume the military offensive in Syria unless the Kurdish fighters withdrew.