Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at a joint press conference after 6 hours of talks.
It was also announced that starting at midnight between 5 and 6 March, a ceasefire regime will be established in Idlib for both Turkish and Syrian forces.
Meanwhile, 2 Turkish soldiers died and 3 soldiers were injured in the clash that broke out before the ceasefire in Idlib tonight.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu read the agreement, stating that the ceasefire will take effect at 00:00 tonight, a 6 km safe corridor will be established on the south and north of the M4 highway, and Turkish and Russian joint patrols will begin their activities on 15 March.
Putin said they discussed the situation that is quite tense in Idlib. "Terrorist groups in the region have increased their activities. There was an attack on March 1, too. Since the beginning of the year, the number of attacks targeting the Hmeymim base has been 15. Every time we did not refrain from giving information to Turkey. There were casualties among the Turkish military," Russian President said.
Erdogan, on the other hand, said, at the press conference, that "We have discussed all the issues on which we have different opinions. The Turkish-Russian relationship has deep, historical roots. This history, exceeding 5 centuries, is also a history of the mutual interaction of the two countries and the people. It is our greatest desire to advance this history on the basis of common interest. We invite Mr. Putin to our country for the meeting of the high-level cooperation council this year."
Turkey's Erdogan added that Ankara will be sending additional forces to Idlib under a new agreement with Russia, but that the status of Turkey’s Operation Spring Shield will be "changed".
Erdogan had declared M5 and M4 as red lines before and said he would push Syria out of these lines. Turkish President was also willing Syria to withdraw from the areas of observation points behind M5. "If the regime does not withdraw, Turkey will be obliged to do it," he had stated.
With the recent agreement, he accepted that the M5 would be under the control of the Syrian army.
After the agreement, some areas that are currently under the control of jihadist groups will be under the control of Syria.
