REUTERS - Turkey and Russia have prepared an agreement for a ceasefire in Syria, Turkey's
foreign minister said, adding Ankara would not budge on its opposition to
President Bashar al-Assad staying in power.
The comments by Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday appeared to signal a
tentative advance in talks aimed at reaching a truce, but the insistence that
Assad must go will do little to smooth negotiations with Russia, his biggest
backer.
Russia, Iran and Turkey said last week they were ready to help broker a
peace deal after holding talks in Moscow where they adopted a declaration
setting out the principles any agreement should adhere to.
"There are two texts ready on a solution in Syria. One is about a
political resolution and the other is about a ceasefire. They can be
implemented any time," Cavusoglu told reporters on the sidelines of an
awards ceremony at the presidential palace in Ankara.
He said Syria's opposition would never back Assad.
"The whole world knows it is not possible for there to be a
political transition with Assad, and we also all know that it is impossible for
these people to unite around Assad."
Last week, Russia's foreign minister said Russia, Iran and Turkey had
agreed that the priority in Syria was to fight terrorism and not to remove
Assad's government.
Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency said earlier on Wednesday Moscow and
Ankara had agreed on a proposal toward a general ceasefire. The Kremlin said it
could not comment on the report.
A Syrian rebel official said meetings between Ankara and rebel forces were
expected to continue this week, but could not confirm whether a final ceasefire
agreement had been reached.
STICKING POINT
The official told Reuters a major sticking point in negotiations between
rebel groups and Turkey was that Russia wanted to exclude the Damascus
countryside from the ceasefire, but the rebels refused to do so.
A second rebel official told Reuters there was no agreement yet from the
side of the rebel factions.
"The details of the ceasefire deal have yet to be officially
presented to the factions, and there is no agreement so far," the second
official said.
Russia's foreign minister said on Tuesday the Syrian government was
consulting with the opposition ahead of possible peace talks, while a
Saudi-backed opposition group said it knew nothing of the negotiations but
supported a ceasefire.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia, Iran, Turkey and
Assad have agreed that Astana, the Kazakh capital, should be the venue for new
Syrian peace talks.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday United Nations Special Envoy
Staffan de Mistura had spoken by phone with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and
supported the efforts to establish a ceasefire and new peace talks.
The Syrian opposition's main political body on Tuesday urged rebel groups
to cooperate with "sincere regional efforts" to reach a ceasefire
deal but that it had not been invited to any conference, referring to the
Kazakhstan meeting.
The Turkish military said on Wednesday it had "neutralised" 44
Islamic State militants and wounded 117 as part of its operation in the
northern Syrian town of al-Bab.
Rebels supported by Turkish troops have laid siege to al-Bab for weeks
under the "Euphrates Shield" operation launched by Turkey nearly four
months ago to sweep the Sunni hardliners and Kurdish fighters from its Syrian
border.
REUTERS
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