Won’t allow Syria to gain ground, says Erdogan

ISTANBUL: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey will not allow Syrian forces to gain ground in the last opposition stronghold of Idlib, in comments published on Tuesday, a day after eight Turks died in regime fire.

"Syria is right now trying to buy time by driving those innocent and grieving people in Idlib toward our borders. We will not allow Syria the opportunity to gain ground there," Erdogan said in quotes published by the Hurriyet newspaper and broadcaster NTV.

Syrian shelling killed eight Turkish soldiers and civilians in Idlib on Monday, prompting Ankara to retaliate against dozens of Syrian army positions.

"This is a clear violation of the Idlib agreement. There will of course be consequences for the regime," Erdogan said in the interview, which was given to Turkish journalists on his plane returning from a visit to Ukraine.

Erdogan had earlier criticised Russia, the key backer of President Bashar al-Assad, for failing to enforce peace agreements in Idlib, but he toned down his rhetoric in the latest statement.

"We don’t need to get into a serious conflict or a serious confrontation with Russia at this stage," he said. "As you know we have very serious initiatives with Russia."

Turkey and Russia have enjoyed burgeoning trade and defence ties in recent years despite being on opposing sides of the Syrian conflict.

Under a 2018 deal with Russia, Turkey set up 12 observation posts in Idlib aimed at preventing a full assault by Syrian forces, although one was surrounded by Assad’s troops in December.

"Our military observation posts are playing a vital role there and they will remain in place," Erdogan vowed.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Tuesday for an end to fighting between Turkey and Syria in Syria’s opposition-held province of Idlib on Tuesday.

Guterres told reporters it was an "extremely worrying" escalation in the conflict that the Turkish army and the Syrian army were now "bombing each other" in the restive northwest region.

"My strong appeal is for a cessation of hostilities," he said. "We don’t believe there is a military solution for the conflict in Syria. We have said time and time again that the solution is political," Guterres added.

On Monday, the Turkish and Syrian armies engaged in their deadliest clashes since Ankara sent troops to Syria in 2016. Regime shelling of Turkish positions in Idlib killed at least eight Turkish soldiers and three civilians, Ankara said.

Retaliatory fire from Turkey killed at least 13 Syrian government troops, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The incident further tested the uneasy coordination between Russia and Turkey -- the two main foreign brokers in the Syrian conflict.

Russian-backed Syrian government forces and militia have retaken dozens of villages in the last rebel enclave in recent weeks, pushing displaced populations ever closer to the Turkish border.