ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) — The deployment of Turkish troops to the northern Syrian Idlib province was a joint decision by the Astana process guarantor states, taken as a follow-up to the peace talks, Ismail Kahraman, a speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, told Sputnik on Sunday.
"Yes, this move was coordinated with other states. That is a move that was taken as a follow-up to the Astana process. This is a joint decision," Kahraman said answering a question about the coordination of the deployment of troops with other countries.
"Turkey, Russia and Iran have come together in Astana and have made a joint decision in their capacity as guarantor states for Syria. They have made a common plan in order to de-escalate the situation through the creation of de-escalation zones in Syria and to ensure territorial integrity. The conflict in Syria has been going on for seven years. It is important to de-escalate this conflict and to put an end to this conflict. To this end measures are taken to make this possible and which are, in fact, normal measures and they will continue," the Turkish official said on the sidelines of the 137th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in St. Petersburg.
The deployment of the Turkish troops has been criticized by the Syrian side. Earlier in the day, Hammoudeh Sabbagh, a speaker of the Syrian Parliament, said that the legislative body condemned the Turkish invasion of Idlib and considered Ankara's move as a threat to the safety of the country's nationals and to Syria's sovereignty. According to him, the Turkish operation wasn't discussed during the Astana talks and violates international law.
Diplomatic Dispute With US
The speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly also commented on the recent diplomatic tensions in Ankara's relations with Washington, saying that they have a temporary nature and the crisis would be settled before it becomes a real problem for the two states.
"I believe that it is a temporary dispute, which will be settled quite soon and the context will take place to settle it. Turkey and the United States are allies. They act together under NATO. Turkey and the United States work together to establish global peace and stability. So this is going to be settled before it becomes an issue between Turkey and the United States," Ismail Kahraman said.
Upcoming EU Summit in Brussels
The Turkish Parliament speaker also touched upon the upcoming EU summit in Brussels.
"They will be unofficial meetings, in fact, and I hope that at the end of these meetings no decisions that may impact Turkey-EU relations will be taken," Kahraman said.
On Saturday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the European leaders would discuss the tense relations with Turkey during the meetings in Brussels, adding that it was too early to talk about the final decision on Turkey's EU accession process.
A two-day meeting of European Union member states will kick off in Brussels on October 19.
Relations between Ankara and a number of European countries deteriorated following the failed coup attempt in Turkey in July 2016. Ankara has accused Europe of providing asylum for coup plotters, while Brussels has strongly criticized the detention of journalists and human rights activists in Turkey and suspended the preparation of new chapters of Turkey's accession negotiations with the European Union.
In early September, Merkel vowed to discuss the suspension and potential termination of Turkey’s membership talks with the European Union at the EU meeting in October.
