Erdoğan: Turkey not to allow Assad regime to advance in Idlib

Turkey will not allow the Assad regime to gain territory in the northwestern region of Idlib, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was quoted as saying on Tuesday, a day after eight Turkish personnel were martyred in an attack carried out Assad regime troops.

"The Assad regime is right now trying to buy time by driving those innocent and grieving people in Idlib toward our borders. We will not allow the regime an opportunity to gain ground there," Erdoğan said in quotes published by the Hürriyet newspaper.

"This is a clear violation of the Idlib agreement. There will of course be consequences for the regime," Erdoğan said in his comments to journalists.

Earlier, Turkey urged Russia to rein in the regime forces in Idlib, after the attack rattled a fragile cooperation between the two countries, which back opposing sides in the war.

Speaking on a flight back from Ukraine, Erdoğan said there was no need to be in "serious contradiction" with Russia over developments in Syria for now, adding that Ankara and Moscow will sit down to talk about the issue "without anger".

He also said he may call Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.

Erdoğan had earlier criticised Russia, the key backer of the Bashar al-Assad regime, 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 the pro-Assad forces, although one was surrounded by the regime troops in December.