Syria summit: Erdogan to host Putin, Merkel and Macron on October 27

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will host a Syria summit with the leaders of Russia, Germany and France on October 27 in Istanbul, his spokesperson said.

The summit will be attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as French and German leaders Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, state-run Anadolu news agency reported Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin as saying on Friday, October 19.

The summit will include discussions on the Idlib agreement as well as the political process in Syria, Kalin said.

Erdogan had previously planned to host the international summit in September, but it did not take place then.

The Russia-Turkey agreement reached on September 17 for the northwestern region of Idlib was made in part to avert what many warned could be one of the worst humanitarian disasters of Syria’s seven-year conflict.

According to the deal, the zone would separate rebel and regime zones under the supervision of the two sponsor countries.

The Turkish defense ministry said on October 10 that Syrian rebels pulled out their heavy weapons from the de-militarized zone.

With reporting from AFP