December 23, 2019
ANKARA (Reuters) – A Turkish team was in Russia on Monday for talks on the conflicts in Syria and Libya, following reports that tens of thousands more Syrians were heading to Turkey, which is already host to the world’s biggest refugee population.
President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday more than 80,000 civilians in Syria’s northwest Idlib province were migrating towards Turkey, after Russian and Syrian forces intensified their air strikes in the area in recent days.
Turkey-based Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) said 120,000 Syrians in south Idlib were fleeing towards the border.
The visit to Moscow by the Turkish delegation, led by Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal, was taking place before Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Turkey, a member of the NATO alliance that has angered the United States and other Western allies by buying a Russian missile defense system.
Turkey already hosts about 3.7 million Syrians, the largest refugee population in the world. It worries about a new influx.
“We are putting up every effort with Russia for the attacks to stop, and we will continue to do so. In fact, we are sending a delegation to Moscow,” Erdogan said in his comments on Sunday.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has vowed to recapture the Idlib region, the last significant area of Syria still under rebel control after 8-1/2 years of civil war.
Turkey has backed Syrian rebels fighting Assad, while Russia and Iran support Assad’s forces. Ankara, Moscow and Tehran have been working on a political solution to the conflict.
The Turkish delegation will also discuss Turkey’s potential troop deployment and military support to Libya, after Ankara and Tripoli signed a military cooperation accord last month.
Russia has said it was concerned about any such deployment.
Erdogan said on Sunday that Turkey could increase military support to Fayez al-Serraj’s U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), which has been fighting off an offensive by east Libya forces led by Khalifa Haftar.
Russia, alongside Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, have backed Haftar’s forces.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Additional reporting by Daren Butler; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Edmund Blair)
