Putin and Erdogan discuss Syria twice in two days

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed Syria on Saturday for a second time in two days, the Kremlin said.


The two governments have only recently restored ties, a year after Turkey's shooting down of a Russian military jet on the Syrian border in November 2015 sparked a deep crisis in relations.


They remain on opposing sides in Syria's civil war - with Moscow backing the regime and Ankara backing the rebels - but Turkish criticism of Russian support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been muted as the two rebuild ties.


Putin and Erdogan spoke by telephone and "continued their exchange of opinions concerning the situation in Syria", the Russian presidency said in a brief statement.
The pair also spoke by phone on Friday "at Turkey's initiative", in a conversation that covered bilateral ties as well as a "resolution to the Syrian conflict", notably the possibility of "co-ordinated efforts in the fight against terrorism", the Kremlin said.


Turkish officials said the death of four Turkish soldiers in Syria on Thursday in a strike blamed on the regime had been raised in Friday's talks - the first time Ankara has accused Damascus of killing its soldiers during a three-month Turkish campaign inside Syria.    (AFP)

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