Vienna: Turkey is very much concerned over a possible attack on Idlib, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said yesterday.
Speaking to reporters ahead of a meeting of EU and candidate countries’ foreign ministers, Cavusoglu said: “Turkey is trying to prevent an attack on Syria’s Idlib, which would be a disaster.” Located near the Turkish border, Idlib in May was designated as a de-escalation zone where acts of aggression are expressly forbidden as part of the ongoing Astana process, Anatolia news agency reported.
Nevertheless, for the past two months, the Idlib de-escalation zone has been the target of particular fierce airstrikes by Russia and Assad regime forces.
Cavusoglu also responded to a question over Turkey’s purchase of Russian S-400 missile defence systems.
“Turkey bought the Russian S-400 missile defence system. There will be no more arguments on that. Turkey needs the systems urgently,” Cavusoglu added.
Last December, Turkey announced it had concluded an agreement with Russia for the purchase of two S-400 systems by early 2020.
This April both parties agreed on early delivery of the systems.
Speaking about relations between Turkey and the U.S., Cavusoglu said: “The U.S. president does not only have problems with Turkey, but also he has problems with every EU member country.”
