Erdogan seeks to downplay tensions with Russia over Syria in upcoming visit to Moscow

ANKARA - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will head to Russia for talks on Thursday with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, as relations deteriorate against the backdrop of an increasingly brutal battle between Russian-backed Syrian forces and Turkish-backed rebels over the control of Syria’s Northwest.

The visit comes after the Kremlin on Monday warned that it can no longer guarantee the safety of Turkish planes after Damascus said it was closing its air space over the contested Idlib region.

The Turkish Defence Ministry said Sunday that its forces had shot down two regime SU-24 planes over Idlib and destroyed two air defence systems, one which had earlier downed a Turkish drone.

Syria’s official state news agency SANA said the four pilots ejected and landed safely.

Oleg Zhuravlev, chief of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties in Syria, said the regime had been forced to close its airspace over Idlib as a result, and that the safety of Turkish jets over Syria could not be guaranteed.

“In view of the sharp exacerbation of tensions in the airspace over Idlib” the Syrian regime was “forced to declare it closed,” Zhuravlev said in a statement late Sunday.

“In such conditions, the command of the Russian taskforce cannot guarantee safety of flights by Turkish planes over Syria,” the statement warned.

Downplaying risks

Despite these stern warnings from the Kremlin, Erdogan still hopes to reach a ceasefire deal during his Moscow visit, downplaying the extent of deteriorating relations.

"I will go to Moscow on Thursday to discuss the developments in Syria," Erdogan told members of his party in the capital, Ankara.

"I hope that he [Putin] will take the necessary measures there, such as a ceasefire, and that we will find a solution to this affair," Erdogan said in a televised speech on Monday.

Turkey confirmed on Sunday that it had launched a full-scale military operation against President Bashar al-Assad’s forces but reiterated that it did not want direct confrontation with Russia.

"We do not aim to face-off with Russia. Our only aim is to stop the Syrian regime's massacres, radical groups, the displacement of civilians," Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said.

In his speech, Erdogan also said that Turkish forces on Sunday rendered unusable the Syrian government's Nayrab military airport, east of Aleppo city.

"We don't need anybody's aid or anybody's support, we will continue our operations on our own," Erdogan said. 

On Saturday, Erdogan asked Putin to "move away from the path" of Turkey in Syria, stressing that the Syrian regime "will pay the price for its attacks” against Turkish troops.

His Russian counterpart had also explicitly said that Russia was not planning to go to war with anyone but wanted instead to discourage other countries from entering into a conflict with Moscow.

"Russia attaches "great importance to cooperation with our Turkish partners," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Turkey, which backs certain groups in the last rebel-held stronghold of Idlib, has sent thousands of troops into the province, where a fierce Russia-backed government offensive has forced almost one million people to flee towards the closed Turkish border since December.

Despite backing opposing sides in Syria's war, Turkey and Russia have coordinated closely in the past. In 2018, they reached a deal that led to Ankara establishing 12 military observation posts in Idlib to prevent a Syrian government offensive.

The escalation in Idlib has raised concerns among the international community over the deteriorating humanitarian situation for civilians and the risk of another exodus of displaced Syrians.

Turkey already hosts more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees and says it cannot absorb any more.

Refugee numbers have already surged along the European frontier after Erdogan, seeking to pressure the EU over Syria, warned last week the country had "opened the doors" to Europe.     

Greece said Sunday that it had blocked entry for nearly 10,000 Syrian refugees at its border with Turkey, where thousands, including families with young children, spent the night in the cold according to the International Organisation for Migration.

Almost one million people have been displaced from the provinces bordering Turkey since an uptick in the regime offensive in December, an unprecedented wave of displacement since the conflict’s birth in 2011, since which 380,000 lives have been lost.