Turkey wants no new crisis to arise in Syria – President Erdogan

Turkey does not want a new humanitarian crisis to arise in Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.

"We do not want a new humanitarian crisis and new tragedies to arise neither in Idlib nor in other regions of Syria," Erdogan told a news conference with his Russian and Iranian counterparts Vladimir Putin and Hasan Rouhani following a trilateral summit on Syria in Russia's coastal city of Sochi.

Erdogan said Turkey will continue to do its part on the Idlib deal. He also called on the Syrian regime to obey the ceasefire agreement.

"Hopes for a political solution to the Syrian crisis are sprouting as never before," he said.

Turkey's concern is to ensure Syria's territorial integrity and clear terror groups from Syria's Manbij, Erdogan stressed.

He said Syrian people in Turkey are longing to return home, adding that Turkey had done its best for the Syrian refugees since the start of the war and provided $35 billion in aid in every area. 

Erdogan hoped that the Syrian constitutional committee will be formed "as soon as possible," so the Syrian people can determine their own future.

He announced that the next round of the trilateral meeting between the leaders of Turkey, Russia and Iran will be held in Turkey in upcoming months.

President Putin said the Astana process was leading to a permanent political solution in Syria and that "we should not put up with the presence of terrorist groups in Syria’s Idlib region."

He said Russia, Turkey and Iran were jointly working for normalisation of life in Syria.

Putin said a conflict-free state is being maintained in almost all of Syria as the tangible, positive outcome of joint efforts with Turkey.

Putin underlined the importance of a committee tasked to draft a new Syrian constitution, saying the committee should start its work soon.

Iran's Rouhani said the US "unfortunately" protected terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq, adding that external intervention and the importance of liberating Syria from terror have been discussed at the Sochi summit with special emphasis on its territorial integrity.

He stressed the need to redouble efforts to implement the deal on Syria's Idlib region.

TRT World's Hasan Abdullah has more.

Stand against 'separatist agenda'

Leaders of Turkey, Iran and Russia expressed a firm stance against a "separatist agenda" in Syria. 

The presidents expressed their determination to stand against separatist agendas aimed at undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria as well as the national security of neighbouring countries, read a joint statement released following the trilateral summit on Syria.   

According to the statement the leaders also discussed the situation in northeastern Syria and agreed to coordinate their activities to ensure security, safety and stability in this area including through existing agreements, while respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity of the war-torn country.   

On the US decision to withdraw troops from Syria, they said the move would strengthen stability and security in the region if Washington implemented the decision. 

The three leaders first met in Sochi in 2017.

Turkey, Russia and Iran are guarantor countries that brokered a ceasefire in Syria in December 2016, leading to the Astana talks, which are running parallel to the Geneva talks.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on protesters with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and millions more displaced by the conflict.