Russia, Turkey agree Syrian opposition should withdraw from suicide positions

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday, the Turkish side agrees that the Syrian opposition should withdraw from the terrorists' positions, according to TASS.

For the most part we have no disagreements on what groups should be considered terrorist," Lavrov told reporters following talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on the sidelines of a session of the foreign ministers from the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC) member states.

Russia and Turkey agree that opposition groups in Syria should make clear that they are not terrorists by withdrawing from areas controlled by extremist groups, Lavrov said. "Our Turkish colleagues confirmed today that they absolutely agree with this logic."

"Those who don't want to get hit need to leave positions occupied by Jabhat al-Nusra and Daesh. If the patriotic opposition, constructive opposition remains in areas controlled by terrorists, it needs to withdraw its units. Otherwise it will be considered an accomplice."

Cavusoglu agreed with his Russian counterpart, stating that he doubted the two countries had different opinions on the matter.

Russia hopes that Moscow and Ankara would be able to achieve tangible results in resolving the Syrian crisis, including stemming the flow of terrorists along the Turkish-Syrian border, Lavrov said.

He added that Russia and Turkey have resumed the activities of the working group on the fight against terrorism.

After the meeting, Lavrov said that Moscow and Ankara have agreed to restore their antiterror cooperation and military contacts, which were cut when a Turkish jet shot down a Russian warplane at the Syrian border in November.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 27 that included condolences to the killed pilot's family.

Two days later, Putin and Erdogan held their first phone talks since the November incident.

Source : MENA