Meeting of Leaders from Turkey, Russia, Germany, and France on Syria in Istanbul

Leaders from Turkey, Russia, Germany, and France will meet next week in Istanbul to discuss the Syrian crisis, one month after a ceasefire was established in the Idlib region through the mediation of Russia and Turkey. Idlib is the last area under the control of Syrian rebels, home to about three million people, more than half of whom have been displaced from other regions during the Syrian civil war. According to a Reuters report, under last month's agreement between Russia and Turkey, a buffer zone 15 to 20 kilometers wide has been created in rebel territory, and by Monday all heavy weapons and extremist jihadist groups must withdraw from this area. According to a spokesperson for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the leaders of these four countries will discuss not only the situation in Idlib during the meeting on October 27 in Istanbul but also the political process to end the war in Syria. Emmanuel Macron's office stated that France seeks to avoid a humanitarian crisis in the Idlib region and prevent a large wave of migration. A senior French diplomat said, 'We want to maintain this level of stability and calm and move into the next phase based on this agreement, which is negotiations in the political process for the future of Syria. One of the outcomes will be the start of the constitutional committee's work, which the United Nations is working on.' Reuters adds that a spokesperson for the German government said that Chancellor Angela Merkel will focus on the situation in Idlib and the implementation of the Sochi agreement between the Turkish and Russian governments at next week's meeting. The spokesperson added, 'From the German government's perspective, Russia is an ally of Bashar al-Assad's regime and therefore has a special responsibility.' Jan Egeland, a UN humanitarian advisor, said on Thursday that Russia and Turkey intend to give more time for the implementation of the de-escalation plan and ceasefire in the Idlib region. However, he also warned that there are still many unanswered questions regarding how this plan will be implemented and the likelihood of groups deemed terrorists refusing to accept disarmament. Stefan de Mistura, the UN special envoy for Syria, announced a few days ago that he would resign from this position at the end of November for family reasons. Given the recapture of most areas under rebel control by Syrian government forces with the support of Russia and Iran, achieving a political agreement for the country's future still seems very difficult.