Turkey ‘fears Russia-US war’ over Syria

Ankara / AFP

Turkey said on Wednesday it fears the world will be plunged into a global conflict with superpowers Russia and the US on opposing sides if the proxy war in Syria continues.
“If this proxy war continues, after this, let me be clear, America and Russia will come to a point of war,” Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said in an interview with official Anadolu news agency.
Kurtulmus warned that the Syrian conflict had put the world “on the brink of the beginning of a large regional or global war”.
While Turkey and its Western allies call for Syrian President Bashar Al Assad to step down, Moscow is a key backer of the regime in Damascus alongside Iran.
Ankara is part of the US-led coalition targeting the IS group with air strikes but it has also supported Syrian opposition fighters to retake territory from the extremist group since August 24.
Tensions between Moscow and Washington have surged in the last week as the US pulled the plug on Syria talks and accused Russia of hacking attacks.
US Secretary of State John Kerry last week called for a war crimes investigation after accusing Moscow and the regime of deliberately bombing hospitals as a Russian-backed assault on Aleppo in northern Syria continues.
Relations between the two countries were already at their lowest since the Cold War over the Ukraine conflict, with Russia saying it was suspending joint research with the United States on nuclear energy projects earlier this month.
In the interview, Kurtulmus also insisted that Turkish forces at the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq were “legitimate” and would remain in the country for “as long as necessary”.
Tensions are high after Baghdad called Ankara an “occupying” force last week when the Turkish parliament agreed to extend its mandate for military operations in Iraq and Syria for a year. Turkey has said its forces are training Iraqi fighters to help retake the country’s second biggest city, Mosul, from IS in the near future.

French UN Syria proposal aimed at ‘inflaming situation’: Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday accused France of pushing for a UN proposal on Syria at the weekend knowing Russia would veto it, blaming the United States for leaning on Paris.
“They put forward the resolution knowing that it would not pass…in order to incite a veto,” Putin told an investment conference in Moscow.
“Why? It was aimed at inflaming the situation and fanning hysteria around Russia.”
He accused French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault of going back on promises given during his Moscow visit last Thursday and instead ignoring Russia’s proposals for the resolution and “blaming Russia for all the deadly sins” in Syria.
He implied that France was serving US interests, which is using this hysteria in the presidential campaign.
“This is especially valuable in the conditions of the pre-election campaign,” Putin said. “I don’t know if that corresponds with the interests of European countries, but to serve foreign policy, even domestic policy interests of an ally, in this case the US, is that the role of… serious states that claim to have independent foreign policy and call themselves a great country?”

New bombardment
kills 7 in Aleppo
At least seven people were killed in fresh air strikes and artillery fire on rebel-held areas of Syria’s second city Aleppo on Wednesday, a monitor said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the death toll was expected to rise because of the number of wounded in serious condition.
The Britain-based monitor said among the areas hit in the bombardment was a market in the Fardos neighbourhood.

Pope ‘begs’ for ceasefire
Pope Francis appealed on Wednesday for an immediate ceasefire in Syria, calling for “at least” a truce enabling civilians, especially children, to be evacuated, after Aleppo came under fierce air assault.
“I want to underline and reiterate my closeness to all the victims of the inhumane conflict in Syria,” he said at his weekly audience in Saint Peter’s Square at the Vatican.
“It is with a sense of urgency that I renew my appeal, begging those responsible, with all my strength, for an immediate ceasefire to be imposed and respected at least long enough to consent the evacuation of civilians, especially children, who are still trapped under the ferocious bombardments,” he said.

Russia to hold talks with USA, regional powers

Moscow / AFP

Russia on Wednesday said it would hold Syria talks with the United States and regional powers this weekend, the first meeting on the conflict since Washington froze
bilateral ceasefire negotiations.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry agreed to hold talks aimed at “creating the conditions for the resolution of the Syrian crisis” in Lausanne on Saturday, alongside top diplomats from “key countries in the region”, Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
In an interview on Wednesday Lavrov said that talks should include Turkey, Saudi Arabia and possibly Qatar, CNN reported.
“We would like to have a meeting in this narrow format, to have a businesslike discussion, not another General Assembly-like debate,” he was quoted as saying.
A US State Department source confirmed the meeting to AFP: “Can confirm Lausanne. Lausanne will be a meeting with key regional participants as well as Russia.”
US Secretary of State John Kerry will attend both meetings to discuss “a multilateral approach to resolving the crisis in Syria, including a sustained cessation of violence and the resumption of humanitarian aid deliveries,” his spokesman John Kirby said.
The meeting comes as tensions between Moscow and the West have spiked over the conflict after peace efforts unravelled and Russia unleashed an intense bombing campaign to back up a regime assault on the war-ravaged city of Aleppo.
The US pulled the plug on talks with Russia aimed at reviving a flagging ceasefire on October 3, sending ties with Russia spiralling to a new low.
The West has accused Moscow of potential war crimes as its forces have blasted rebel-held eastern Aleppo in support of Bashar Al Assad’s troops.