Turkish PM to visit Russia to discuss Syria crisis
Baku, July 12 (AZERTAC). Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is planning a one-day visit to Moscow on July 18 to seek ways to end 16 months of violence in Syria that has now left more than 15,000 Syrians dead.
The crisis in Syria will dominate the Turkish prime minister`s agenda, but he will also discuss regional and international affairs in his talks.
Russia, which is hosting Syrian opposition groups for talks, is under international pressure to exert influence over President Bashar al-Assad`s government to make it stick to a peace plan laid out by UN envoy Kofi Annan. Moscow, along with China, has protected Assad from harsher sanctions in the UN Security Council.
The foreign ministers of the UN Security Council`s five permanent members -- Russia, the United States, China, France and Britain -- all attended the Geneva meeting along with Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, where they agreed that a transitional government should be set up in Syria, but left open the question of what role Assad might play.
Diplomatic sources said Erdogan is scheduled to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and exchange views on a transition period in Syria with the Russian president, the Cihan news agency reported. Diplomatic sources also added that Erdogan will discuss the recently downed Turkish warplane by Syrian forces and will ask Russia to share with Turkey any possible data Moscow has regarding the jet.
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