Syria: Turkey and Russia agree terms of ceasefire

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 state-run Anadolu news agency said.

Anadolu, citing unnamed sources, said the two countries had reached a consensus that would be presented to participants in the conflict on expanding the ceasefire that was established in Aleppo this month.

The Turkish foreign ministry gave no immediate confirmation, but the state agency tends to reflect government thinking.

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 joint declaration setting out the principles that would underpin any future agreement.

The ceasefire would exclude groups labelled as terrorists by the two countries, allowing attacks to continue against Islamic State and others. Turkey has said the talks must not include the Syrian Kurdish Democratic party (PYD) or its military arm (YPG).

Arrangements for the Russian-led talks are vague, but Moscow has said they will take place in Kazakhstan. Astana, the Kazakh capital, staged Syrian peace talks in 2015, but critics said they excluded most of the mainstream opposition and so were largely pointless.

Russia’s foreign minister said on Tuesday the Syrian government was consulting with the opposition before possible peace talks, while a Saudi-backed opposition group said it knew nothing of the negotiations but supported a ceasefire.

The talks would exclude groups labelled as terrorists by Moscow, a group that would exclude al-Nusra, the al-Qaida franchise in Syria, and Isis, the Sunni group based in Raqqa in north-east Syria.

Turkey is likely to demand that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are also excluded from the Astana talks, even though with the help of the US they have led the offensive against Isis in Raqqa. The US has been backing the SDF since 2015 with training, money and some arms.

The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said on Tuesday night that the talks would include representatives of the regime of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, as well as the opposition. But he added: “We will not welcome a decision to invite terrorrist groups to the summit.”

Erdoğan made clear he regarded the US-supported SDF as terrorists, saying of the US: “They were accusing us of supporting Daesh [Isis]. Now they give support to the terrorist groups including Daesh, YPG, PYD. It’s very clear – we have confirmed evidence with pictures, photos and videos.”

Erdoğan also blamed the US for the difficulties Turkey was facing with the month-long al-Bab offensive, accusing it of withholding support through aerial operations. “Even though the US-led coalition has failed to keep its promises in our operation to liberate al-Bab, we will rid the city of Daesh terrorists, no matter what.”

Turkey’s ultimate goal is unclear, and is made more complex by the imminent arrival of the US president-elect, Donald Trump, who has yet to formulate a coherent Syria policy.

The UN, seeking to stay relevant in the face of the diplomatic initiative being led by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has said it will restart its stalled peace talks in Geneva in February, raising the possibility of two parallel peace processes.

Russia has insisted its peace negotiations will complement the UN-led talks rather than conflict with them.