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Erdogan Seeks Support in Moscow as Putin Becomes Syria Kingmaker

Erdogan Seeks Support in Moscow as Putin Becomes Syria Kingmaker

(Bloomberg) -- Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan got another chance to lobby Vladimir Putin to protect Turkish interests as the U.S. prepares to withdraw from Syria, leaving Russia as the key power broker in that war-ravaged nation.

The two leaders met again in Moscow on Wednesday to discuss coordination in Syria, where they’ve been on opposing sides even as they deepened their friendship. Russia has backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad throughout the eight years of fighting, while Turkey supported militant forces seeking to overthrow him.

“We’re continuing the practice of regular meetings,” Putin told Erdogan at the start of the Kremlin talks. Erdogan cited “a clear improvement in our political, military, economic, trade and cultural ties,” adding, “our cooperation contributes to the regional peace.”

Erdogan Seeks Support in Moscow as Putin Becomes Syria Kingmaker

A key focus of the discussions was the city and province of Idlib, where an al-Qaeda affiliate called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) routed Turkish-backed rebels in a sudden advance over the last few weeks. That leaves in tatters a deal that Turkey had reached with Moscow in September to avert a Syrian regime assault on the city. The agreement was contingent on Turkey and its allied forces clearing the city of terrorists, which they failed to do.

Earlier Wednesday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry warned the situation around Idlib “is rapidly deteriorating,” saying that HTS had taken full control.

Russia’s and Turkey’s defense ministries are working on “additional joint measures” to stabilize the situation in Idlib, Putin told reporters after the meeting, without giving further details. A summit with Iran, Russia and Turkey is scheduled for next month, according to Erdogan.

A green light from Moscow for Assad to take back the province would mark a setback for Erdogan, who’s been trying to carve out areas of influence for anti-regime Islamist rebels. Turkey says that a political transition after the fighting ends must see Assad leave. But Putin’s envoy to the Middle East told Bloomberg last month that Assad is popular and would probably win a new election.

‘No Way’

“Lavrov has said Russia would ‘consider’ Turkish interests, but that sounds more like a diplomatic expression for: ‘No way,’” said Heiko Wimmen, the Syria, Lebanon and Iraq Project Director at International Crisis Group in Beirut, referring to Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. “Erdogan will try to get Putin to OK his security zone. It’s unlikely he’ll succeed.”

Lavrov warned on Jan. 16 that the deal on Idlib didn’t give “carte blanche to terrorists,” and said the situation there would be a “central issue” in discussions between Putin and Erdogan. Turkey, which already hosts the largest refugee population in the world at nearly 4 million people, fears that a regime assault on Idlib would send hundreds of thousands more across its border.

Capturing Idlib would also further strengthen Assad’s position as he seeks to exploit the planned withdrawal of U.S. troops to take back oil-rich northeastern provinces now in the hands of an American-backed Kurdish group. Ankara considers the Kurdish fighters to be terrorists and has been pushing to establish a buffer zone on the Syria-Turkey border, a plan the U.S. supports but which will likely also require Russian support to enforce.

Putin said he was in favor of a withdrawal of U.S. troops because it will “help stabilize the situation” in the region. While Russia plans to continue its cooperation with the U.S. on fighting terrorists, there are no internationally legal grounds for the presence of U.S. troops in Syria, he said.

Erdogan Seeks Support in Moscow as Putin Becomes Syria Kingmaker

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said last week that his country’s military was ready to cooperate with Russia and Iran, as well as the U.S., to confront jihadists in Idlib and prevent a broader offensive on the enclave. Under the September cease-fire deal, Turkey said it would ensure the al-Qaeda-linked militants left a demilitarized zone there.

With an estimated 15,000-20,000 fighters, the extremist group will be hard to dislodge after it imposed control over the city of Idlib and the surrounding province, said Anton Lavrov, an independent defense analyst based near Moscow.

“It won’t be a quick victory but it is ultimately a matter of time -- a few months,” he said.

It’s unclear what this would mean for Turkey’s threatened assault on Kurdish fighters further east. The prospect of an imminent offensive had already faded after U.S. officials rowed back on a pledge from President Donald Trump to swiftly pull out American soldiers embedded with the Kurdish YPG. A major argument for the slower exit was protection of the Kurdish forces, who endured much of the heaviest fighting against Islamic State.

The deaths of four American soldiers in a Jan. 16 suicide attack claimed by Islamic State -- whose defeat Trump cited as reason to withdraw -- could slow things further. Russia is pushing for Assad’s forces to move into the northeast, and has told Turkey that this would assuage its concerns about the YPG’s presence there.

Putin and Erdogan also discussed delays in approving members for a committee that’s to review Syria’s constitution as part of one of the first steps toward a negotiated end to the conflict. Russia, Turkey and Iran have drafted a list of people to be appointed to the committee.

--With assistance from Stepan Kravchenko and Pauline Bax.

To contact the reporters on this story: Henry Meyer in Moscow at hmeyer4@bloomberg.net;Cagan Koc in Istanbul at ckoc2@bloomberg.net;Olga Tanas in Moscow at otanas@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Benjamin Harvey at bharvey11@bloomberg.net, ;Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Gregory L. White

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