\n Prior to the meeting, the two leaders made the following statements:<\/span><\/p>\n Vladimir Putin:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cGood afternoon, Mr President.<\/span><\/p>\n Thank you for coming to Russia. As usual, we have things to discuss. The situation in the Idlib zone in Syria has deteriorated so much that we need to have a direct and personal discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n First of all, I would like to express our sincere condolences over the death of your military personnel in Syria. Loss of life is always a big tragedy.<\/span><\/p>\n Regrettably, as I have told you by telephone, nobody, including the Syrian military, was aware of your troops\u2019 location. At the same time, there were casualties among Syrian servicemen as well. The Syrian army reported major losses.<\/span><\/p>\n Therefore, we need to discuss everything and analyse the current developments so that, first, this does not happen again and, second, that this does not damage Russian-Turkish relations, which I know that you value as well.<\/span><\/p>\n As you requested, we are ready to begin our talks one-on-one, and then our colleagues, who are with us in this room, will join us, if necessary.<\/span><\/p>\n Once again, welcome to Moscow.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Recep Tayyip Erdogan:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYes, Mr President, I would like to also thank you for your welcome.<\/span><\/p>\n As you know, we were going to hold this meeting in Turkey but due to your ongoing work on constitutional amendments, we decided to accept your invitation and come here. Certainly, this meeting on Idlib talks is very important.<\/span><\/p>\n The situation in Idlib is indeed very tense. I know that the entire world is watching us today and I think that the action and decisions we take today will definitely have a mitigating effect.<\/span><\/p>\n This is a time when the relations between our countries have indeed reached a peak. Of course, this concerns the defence industry, trade and other areas; they continue developing.<\/span><\/p>\n We believe and say that we need to make progress in this area. In fact, this is our biggest task, to move forward and develop our relations. I believe we will succeed.<\/span><\/p>\n Once again, I would like to thank you for your welcome.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Erdogan previously said he had asked Putin to \u201cstep aside\u201d in Syria and allow him to deal with Damascus \u201cface to face\u201d, while Syrian President Bashar Assad stated in an interview just one day before the Putin-Erdogan meeting that the conflict between the Turkish people and the Syrian people is \u201cillogical\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n Around the same time that the meeting was taking place, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reiterated Turkey\u2019s right to self-defense in connection with the situation in Idlib, during a press briefing.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe are firmly convinced that our NATO partner, Turkey, has every right to defend itself against the risks created in Syria by Assad, Russians and Iranians,\u201d said Pompeo<\/a>, answering a question about how he assesses \u201cthe partnership between Russia and Turkey.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He recalled that a few days ago, US President Donald Trump held talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. The US Secretary of State did not comment on the ongoing negotiations between the leaders of Turkey and Russia in Moscow.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe Turkish government has requested a number of things, we are evaluating all these requests. Our team (the US State Department) together with the Department of Defense team are deciding how best to reduce violence and a larger world there and stop the ongoing large-scale humanitarian crisis,\u201d said Pompeo.<\/span><\/p>\n \n The two leaders spoke tete-a-tete for approximately 3 hours, and then they were joined by their respective delegations. The entire negotiation ended after 5 hours 40 minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Screen-Shot-2020-03-05-at-19.57.15-954x1024.png\")
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