Russian media cheer Oct. 22 Sochi deal on Syria

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russian media on Wednesday dubbed the Tuesday’s agreement between Turkey and Russia on Syria as “historic”, “of a global scale” and “fateful”.

The official Rossiyskaya Gazeta in an article -- titled 10 Steps to Peace -- called the agreement "a real breakthrough, allaying existed fears".

No more danger of clashes between the Turkish and Syrian armed forces, while the territorial integrity of Syria is preserved, the article read.

The daily Izvestia called "historic" Russian-Turkish memorandum, signed by the heads of Russia and Turkey, expecting it will end the military operations in Syria.

"Following the talks, Russia and Turkey adopted a joint memorandum in which they expressed their determination to jointly fight terrorism and separatism on the Syrian territory. All these conclusions are contained in the historic memorandum reached in Sochi during more than six hours of talks between the leaders of Russia and Turkey. The adopted communique means the end of hostilities in the Arab Republic," it said.

The daily Kommersant called the Russian-Turkish talks "an event of a global scale", pointing out the great number of journalists, assigned to cover the meeting.

"Finally fateful decisions were made," it said.

The financial newspaper Vedomosti stresses that besides finding a compromise on the military part, Russia and Turkey confirmed the intention to work on the political direction in the framework of the Astana format and to support the work of the Syrian constitutional committee.

On Oct. 9, Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring to eliminate terrorists from northern Syria east of the Euphrates River in order to secure Turkey’s borders, aid in the safe return of Syrian refugees and ensure Syria’s territorial integrity.

Ankara agreed with Washington on Oct. 17 to pause its operation to allow YPG/PKK terrorists to withdraw from the planned safe zone.

On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held a "historic" meeting in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi just hours before the pause was set to expire.

Ankara and Moscow reached a deal under which PKK/YPG terrorists will pull back 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Turkey’s border with northern Syria within 150 hours and security forces from Turkey and Russia will conduct joint patrols there.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union -- has been responsible for deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK.