“Turkish president saw Putin, warplanes and ice cream in Russia; but much-sought assurances on Syria’s Idlib province weren’t forthcoming,” The Middle East Eye reported.
Ahead of his trip to Moscow, Recep Tayyip Erdogan had one priority: negotiate a way out of the crisis in Idlib where a pro-Syrian government offensive has endangered Turkish troops and millions of civilians alike.
Instead, on Tuesday, the Turkish president inaugurated a defense expo, enjoyed some ice cream paid for by his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, bargained for a chopper and inspected a Su-57 fighter jet.
After a meeting with Putin, it was clear for observers in Ankara that there was no immediate deal to stop the humanitarian catastrophe playing out in Idlib.
There, a Turkish observation point has been surrounded by Syrian government forces.
Putin did not comment on the progress of pro-government forces on the ground and the encircling of the Turkish observation post in the southern Idlib town of Morek.
