Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to gather Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin for a Syria summit. Before that, he made clear demands on the phone.
- The war in Syria considers the region under control.
- Recep Erdogan, Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin will meet again on March 5 .
- The Turkish president had previously called for Russian military intervention .
Berlin - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced a Syria summit with Russia, Germany and France on the situation in the contested Syrian province of Idlib. Erdogan said in a speech on Saturday that he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin , Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and French President Emmanuel Macron on March 5 to "re-discuss" the situation.
Erdogan calls for measures in Syria: phone call with Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron
Erdogan called "concrete measures" from Germany and France in a telephone call with Merkel and Macron on Friday to prevent a " humanitarian catastrophe " in Idlib . In another phone call, he called on Putin to "put the troops of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in their place".
According to the Federal Government, the Merkel, Macron and Erdogan phone call also concerned a four-man summit on Syria proposed by the Chancellor and the French President. As a spokesman for the federal government said, all three interlocutors pleaded for "a timely joint meeting" with Putin .
Four-man summit on Syria: will Merkel, Erdogan, Macron and Putin find a solution together?
Merkel and Macron had already called Putin on Thursday and proposed a joint meeting with Erdogan . Moscow's stance on the proposal was initially unclear. A Kremlin spokesman had said on Friday that it would discuss "the possibility" of such a summit. A final decision has not yet been made.
Syria: Russia involved in war in Idlib - Erdogan demands even more help against Assad
In Idlib and the neighboring provinces in northwestern Syria, the Syrian army , with the support of Russia, has been working increasingly against Islamist and jihadist militias since December. Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad wants to bring the last militia stronghold back under his control. Turkey is on the side of Assad's opponents.
According to the UN, around 900,000 people have fled the contested area since the beginning of December. Many of them live in catastrophic conditions in the border region on the border with Turkey . The US imposed sanctions on Turkey for its invasion.
Meanwhile, the United States is particularly concerned about the conflict with Iran *. Donald Trump's * decisions are often criticized in this case. An ARD man therefore even came to a grim forecast for Germany.
mid / isd
* tz.de is part of the nationwide editorial network of Ippen-Digital.
Rubric list picture: © picture alliance / dpa / Burhan Ozbilici