Turkey and Russia 'agree terms of Syria ceasefire'
Source: The Guardian
Countries have agreed proposal that should come into force by midnight, says Turkish foreign minister
Turkey and Russia have agreed on a proposal for a general ceasefire in Syria and will aim to put it into effect by midnight on Wednesday night, Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said. But he still insisted that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad must eventually go, a precondition for talks that Russia has always opposed.
There was also no sign that the mainstream Syrian opposition groups had agreed to the ceasefire, and it appears likely there will be be disagreement about the territory to be covered by any ceasefire. The rebel groups will want it to extend to the Damascus countryside, something that Russia opposes. A senior official in the opposition said they had not received the details of any official deal and denied that they had agreed to a ceasefire agreement.
“The details of the ceasefire have not been presented officially to the opposition factions yet, and there is no agreement at this point,” the official said. 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,” Çavuşoğlu 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.”
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/28/turkey-russia-agree-terms-syria-ceasefire
They are trying to bypass both the US and the UN.
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