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Turkey, Russia, Iran discuss troop presence in Syria

Turkey, Russia and Iran discuss mechanism to station their forces in Syria’s de-escalation zones

Ersin Çelik
09:09 - 23/06/2017 Friday
Update: 09:12 - 23/06/2017 Friday
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Turkish Presidential Spokesman İbrahim Kalın
Turkish Presidential Spokesman İbrahim Kalın

Turkish presidential spokesman İbrahim Kalın said Thursday that Turkey, Russia and Iran have been working on a plan to station their forces in de-escalation areas in Syria.

“If these forces are stationed there, it would minimize the probability of clashes [between the regime and opposition groups],” Kalın told correspondents in Ankara.

He said that Russian and Turkish forces could be stationed in the Idlib region while Damascus and neighboring areas could see the presence of mainly Iranian and Russian troops and forces from Jordan and the U.S: could be stationed in the southern Deraa region.

Russia, Turkey and Iran signed a deal in the Kazakh capital, Astana, on May 4 to establish four main “de-escalation zones” in Syria.

Since then these areas in Syria have for the most part been conflict-free.

Kalın added that delegations from Turkey, Russia and Iran were discussing the logistics of the conflict-free zones.

“They are working on [which country’s] forces would be deployed between regime and opposition, the number of these forces and the mechanism of this forces,” he said.

The main aim of the mechanism is to provide a structure to the cease-fire in Syria, Kalın said.

Kalın stated the upcoming Astana talks would likely cement the deal on stationed forces in Syria.

#de-escalation areas
#Syria
#Turkish Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin
7 years ago