Turkish president to visit Russia next week

By Baris Gundogan

ANKARA (AA) - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pay a one-day-visit to Russia on Tuesday, his office said Friday.

Earlier on Friday, Erdogan discussed the latest developments in war-weary Syria and Libya over the phone with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

In a phone call, Erdogan stressed that Assad regime's violations and attacks in Idlib, northwestern Syria, is causing a "major humanitarian crisis".

Turkey and Russia agreed last September to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone where acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

The Syrian regime and its allies, however, have consistently broken the terms of the cease-fire, launching frequent attacks inside the zone.

The de-escalation zone is currently home to some 4 million civilians, including hundreds of thousands displaced in recent years by regime forces from throughout the war-weary country.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN officials.

* Writing by Jeyhun Aliyev