Erdogan Calls on Putin to Influence Assad

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on Russian leader Vladimir Putin to influence Syria's President Bashar Assad amid escalating tensions in Idlib. The two leaders had a phone conversation the day before. The Kremlin reported that both presidents emphasized the urgent need for the strict implementation of Russian-Turkish agreements regarding Syria.

In turn, Ankara added that they do not rule out a military response to actions by Assad's army. “The number of refugees from Idlib approaching our borders has reached one million. Yesterday, I spoke with Putin and said that Assad must immediately withdraw his forces from the boundaries of the de-escalation zone as stipulated by the Sochi agreement,” Erdogan stated on Wednesday during a speech to the parliamentary faction of the ruling Justice and Development Party.