UPDATE - Idlib cease-fire to start at midnight: Erdogan

UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS FROM ERDOGAN

By Sena Guler, Jeyhun Aliyev and Elena Teslova

ANKARA/MOSCOW (AA) - A cease-fire in Idlib, Syria will take effect just after midnight Thursday, Turkey’s president said following an hours-long meeting in Moscow.

"[In Idlib] the cease-fire will be take effect as of 00.01 a.m. [local time] tonight [Friday]." Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a press conference alongside his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

The conference came after bilateral talks and the meeting of delegations that lasted over six hours in the Kremlin.

Erdogan said intensified regime attacks on civilians since last May disrupted the peace achieved in the Idlib de-escalation zone.

He stated the Assad regime is targeting the region's stability with its aggression and was mainly responsible for violating the Idlib agreement reached between Turkey and Russia in 2018 to turn the area into a de-escalation zone.

"Turkey, of course, would not stand idle by such a threat," he vowed.

"We have taken a much more active role on the ground both to prevent the regime’s aggression and to restrain the other groups who do not comply with the cease-fire," Erdogan said.

The Syrian regime’s main purpose is to depopulate Idlib and place Turkey in a difficult situation with migration pressure, he said, adding it was inevitable to create a new status in Idlib, especially after last week’s deadly attack that martyred at least 34 Turkish troops.

He said the spirit of the close cooperation between Ankara and Moscow provided a unique contribution to international efforts to end the dispute in Syria.

"First of all we will realize the cease-fire as soon as possible, then we will take other the steps rapidly which we will decide together," Erdogan said, but stressed that Turkey reserves its right to response to any attack by Syrian regime during the process.

"Our aim is to prevent the worsening of the humanitarian crisis in the region," Erdogan said.

- Syria talks yield positive results

Putin, for his part, said the sit-down ended with a "positive result" as it managed to find a solution in northwestern Syria that was acceptable to both sides.

"Our close personal contact allows us to quickly resolve various issues of bilateral cooperation and develop common approaches to resolve key international problems.

"We do not always agree with our Turkish partners in their assessments of what is happening in Syria. But every time at critical moments, based on the high level of bilateral relations that we have achieved, we have so far managed to find common ground on the controversial issues that have arisen, and reach acceptable solutions. So it happened this time," Putin said.

Since the beginning of the year, a Russian military base, Hmeimim, in Syria, has been attacked 15 times by the groups in the Idlib de-escalation zone, he said.

"Today, we confirmed the interest of our countries in continuing to work together in the framework of the Astana format. It is the Astana process that has recently given a serious impetus in the context of the Syrian settlement," he said.

Putin thanked the Russian and Turkish delegations, saying they worked hard to prepare for the meeting.

"Our meeting today was preceded by hard work, several rounds of intensive consultations between interagency delegations with an emphasis on the crisis situation in the Idlib zone.

"I would like to thank Mr. President for coming to Moscow today and confirming the level of our relations. I would like to thank all our Turkish colleagues for their hard, difficult, but constructive work, which ended, in my opinion, with a positive result," he said.

Putin expressed hope that the agreement would end hostilities in the Idlib de-escalation zone and prevent a humanitarian crisis.

"I hope that these agreements will serve as a good basis to stop hostilities in the Idlib de-escalation zone, put an end to the suffering of the civilian population, the growing humanitarian crisis, and create conditions for the continuation of the peace process in the Syrian Arab Republic between all the conflicting parties," he said.