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Turkey and Russia implementing Syria ceasefire 'before New Year' Turkey and Russia will implement Syria ceasefire 'before New Year'
(35 minutes later)
Turkey and Russia are planning to implement a countrywide ceasefire in Syria before the start of the New Year, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said. Turkey and Russia are planning to implement a countrywide ceasefire in Syria before the start of the New Year.
The ceasefire could be put in place “at any moment”, the minister told A Haber television after reports a day earlier that Turkey and Russia had agreed a deal. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has also told A Haber television that all foreign fighter groups, including Shia militant group and President Bashar al-Assad ally Hezbollah, need to leave the war-torn country.
“We are planning to secure this before the beginning of the New Year,” he said. It follows unconfirmed reports that the two governments had already agreed terms of a ceasefire deal in the wake of the evacuation of around 34,000 from under-siege Aleppo.
“We are planning to secure this before the beginning of the New Year,” said Mr Cavusoglu.
"We are on the verge of an agreement with Russia. If everything goes all right, we will make this agreement."
In the same interview, he said there is no joint operation between Turkey and Russia against Isis in the Syrian stronghold of al-Bab and that the US was not giving air support to its Syria operation.
Former migration committee chairman, who said Russia and Turkey will both be guarantors but that there is "nothing final" over whether Iran will also sign, added: "All foreign fighters need to leave Syria. Hezbollah needs to return to Lebanon."
Russia, Iran and Turkey said last week they were ready to help broker a peace deal after holding talks in Moscow.
Ankara and the Kremlin however fail to agree over President Assad, who is supported by President Vladimir Putin but vehemently opposed as a "tyrant" by Turkey's President Recep Erdogan.
A failed ceasefire in September, brokered by the US and Russia, failed as the Syrian government continued bombing rebel-held areas.
The war in Syria, prompted by the 2011 Arab Spring and President Bashar al-Assad's violent reaction to protests, has killed potentially more than 430,000, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and an estimated 11 million Syrians have fled their homes since March 2011.
Around one million Syrians have requested asylum to Europe, including 300,000 applications to Germany, according to the European University Institute in Florence.
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