Turkey, Russia agree on ceasefire in Idlib

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin said on March 5 that they have reached agreements that could end fighting in northwest Syria.

Erdoğan, standing alongside Putin after six hours of talks in Moscow, said the cease-fire will come into force in Idlib at midnight.

Underlining that Turkey's military reserves the right to retaliate against any attacks by Syrian regime forces in the region, Erdoğan said that both Ankara and Moscow will work to ensure that aid reaches Syrians in need.

After the leaders' press conference, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov elaborated on the details of the agreement.

The foreign ministers said that the agreement involves a cease-fire that must be enforced starting at midnight along the existing battle lines.

Turkey and Russia agreed to establish a secure corridor 6 kilometers north and 6 kilometers south from the M4 highway in Idlib, the ministers said. The countries' defense ministers will agree on the parameters of the security corridor within seven days.

According to the agreement, Turkish and Russian forces will begin patrols along the M4 highway on March 15. The patrolling will take place from the Trumba settlement, some 2 kilometers to the west of Saraqib, to the Ain-Al-Havr settlement.

Erdoğan and Putin met in Moscow on March 5 for a one-on-one meeting. After the meeting, the two presidents chaired delegation talks, which included the countries' foreign and defense ministers and representatives of the intelligence services.    

March 5's meeting was the third face-to-face encounter between Erdoğan and Putin since early January to find a lasting ceasefire in Syria's Idlib province...