Ankara and Moscow have been holding extensive talks on the situation in Syria's Idlib and the countryside of Hama and Aleppo, diplomatic sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Friday.
The contacts came in light of the continued attacks by Russian-backed regime forces on Idlib province.
“Ankara is attached to a ceasefire only in exchange for rapidly reopening to traffic the two strategic highways running through the province,” the sources said.
A deal hammered out between Ankara and Moscow during the Sochi talks stipulated the reopening of the M4 and M5 highways, which run from Latakia to Saraqib, and from Syria’s southern tip to the border with Turkey in the north, and which both have been cut off in Idlib since 2014.
The diplomatic sources added that Turkey is extremely concerned about having to brace for another new wave of refugees from Idlib, a city that hosts 3.5 million people in northwestern Syria.
The Turkish fears came as regime forces have advanced towards the area and controlled territory in Kfarnabouda, Qalaat al-Madiq, a northwestern village known for its medieval fortress, Tal Hawash, Sheikh Idriss, and Al-Karkat, in addition to the village of al-Sharia in al-Ghab Plain.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu contacted his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on Wednesday with reports saying the minister asked Moscow to stop the bombardments in Idlib province.
Later, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin said operations in Idlib were a reaction to the presence of terrorists in the area and were being carried out “in coordination with our Turkish partners.”
In parallel with the Cavusoglu-Lavrov talks, Ankara sent a convoy of more than 50 military armored vehicles to its observation posts in Tal Issa in the countryside of southern Aleppo and Tell Touqan and Sarman in the countryside of eastern Idlib.
Media reports said an unannounced deal was reached between Turkey and Russia stipulating that regime forces recuperate areas in Idlib and attack positions of extremist groups in return for allowing Turkey to expand in Tal Rifaat and take it back from the Syrian Democratic Forces.
The reports said Turkey wants to control Tal Rifaat to remove Kurdish units from the area and open the Gazi Itab-Aleppo highway.
However, the Syrian regime and Iran fear that the presence of Turkish forces in Tal Rifaat, which is close to Aleppo and the two towns of Nubul and Zehra, would cause a threat to the Shiite towns.
