Turkey thankful to Putin for supporting memorandum on Syria's Idlib

Turkey is thankful to Russian President Vladimir Putin for supporting the Sochi memorandum on Syria's Idlib which allowed to prevent another humanitarian catastrophe in the Arab country, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said at the press conference in Tokyo in response to a TASS question.

"Russia is an important partner for us, and our bilateral relations expanded over the last several years. We are trying to do everything possible to develop our cooperation in different spheres. I am very thankful to the Russian president for his support of the memorandum on Idlib. This is probably the last opportunity to achieve a political solution in Syria. Moreover, we managed to prevent another humanitarian catastrophe," Cavusoglu said.

Talking about the planned meeting between Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Paris this week, the foreign minister noted that the sides will be able to discuss Syria and several regional issues. "There are some bilateral issues that our leaders discuss at their meetings. Syria is always on the agenda," he added.

According to the Russian-Turkish memorandum signed in Sochi on September 17 after talks between Putin and Erdogan, the demilitarized zone in Idlib should have been established by October 15. However, Turkey asked to postpone the start of joint patrolling in Idlib due to its inablility to guarantee security.