Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said about plans to reinforce troop deployments in Syria's Idlib.
"We need extra troop reinforcements. Idlib’s borders will be protected. People will stay in their place. Russia will take necessary measures to prevent attacks against this region and to keep the regime from entering there. Twelve of our monitoring stations will remain," the diplomat said at a four-way ministerial meeting in Ankara.
“The borders of Idlib will be protected under the memorandum of understanding signed in Sochi. There would be no change in the status of Idlib," Çavuoglu added.
He noted that heavy weapons will be removed from the demilitarized zone in Idlib, adding: "Civilians will stay; only terrorist groups will be removed."
The minister said the heavy weapons will be withdrawn from Idlib by October 15, Hurriyet daily reported.
Çavuşoglu added that the region would be cleared off from "radical militants" and the cease-fire would be ensured.
These remarks came a day after Turkey and Russia agreed to turn Idlib into a demilitarized zone between rebel-held and regime-controlled areas after a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Russia’s Sochi. The two sides on September 17 signed a memorandum of understanding calling for stability in Idlib’s de-escalation zone.
