Russia, Turkey continue cooperating on Syria 'despite differences'

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said that Ankara and Moscow are cooperating on Syria despite their differences. The Russian military maintains close cooperation with Turkish colleagues in Syria, he also said.

Tuesday March 16 2021 05:03 pm

Duvar English

Russia and Turkey continue their cooperation on Syria despite the existing disagreements, but the situation remains difficult in Syria's regions where the countries interact, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on March 16.

The Russian military maintains close cooperation with Turkish colleagues in Syria, in line with agreements reached by the two countries' presidents, the Kremlin spokesman noted.

"The situation is still quite difficult in the regions where we interact, terrorist elements remain there, which prevents normalization. However, cooperation continues even though we have some differences on Syria," Sputnik cited Peskov as saying.

Moscow and Ankara back opposing sides in the Syrian conflict, with the former supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the latter rebels trying to topple him.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on March 15 called on Western countries to support Turkey in establishing peace in the country.

The Turkish President said that Ankara expects the West to support the "legitimate" Syrian rebels and not the People's Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara sees as a terrorist organization due to its links to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).