“Having achieved significant gains on protecting civilians, stopping the refugee flow and the fight against terrorism, Turkey maintains its initiatives as the key country on Idlib’s transformation into a permanent safe zone”, the post said, and also included a video about Idlib.

Featuring footage of the tragedy and Turkish Armed Forces' operations in the region, the video underlines that Turkey is the most important actor of resolution for the Syrian civil war, which is about to enter its 10th year.

It is stressed in the video that Turkey is the country that hosts the highest number of refugees in the world and is the country affected most severely by the consequences of the civil war due to its 911-kilometer-long border. The video states that the Assad regime and its supporters, who wish to seize the entire Idlib and become the dominant power in the region, wants to eliminate the opposition forces as well as to keep the regime in power by ignoring the effect of civil war on Turkey.

“Turkey has no choice other than building up its military force in the region and fighting back the attacks of the Assad regime”, the video said, and noted the following:

“At this point, the M4 and M5 Highways connecting Syria from the east to the west, from the south to the north, bear strategic importance. Thanks to its successful military operations, Turkey has fully succeeded in securing the northern and western parts of the M4 and M5 Highways running to the south and east of Idlib. The Syrian refugees in Turkey began to return to their homes after Turkey had established a safe zone. Stopping the massacres of civilians by the Assad regime through talks with Russia, Turkey, on the other hand, also averted a new humanitarian crisis.  Turkey has achieved significant gains in protecting civilians, stopping the refugee flow, and the fight against terrorism. Turkey maintains its initiatives for transforming Idlib into a permanent safe zone to ensure a ceasefire in the Syrian civil war, to bring the political solution to the fore and to eliminate Turkey’s national security concerns.”

Drawing attention to the fact that the power balances in the Idlib region were the most delicate, the video said:

“The Assad regime backed by Russia, the terrorist organizations supported by the international forces, the Free Syrian Army supported by Turkey and many groups maintain their presence in the region. The possibility of terminating the ceasefire, which was introduced through the Moscow Memorandum of Understanding signed on March 5, could become a reality at any moment. Turkey maintains its presence in Idlib as a key country in preventing a war that will spill over into its territory, blocking terrorist organizations from spreading their activities to Idlib, maintaining its achievements and preventing any initiative that will lead to a new humanitarian crisis, and securing peace in the region and seeking political solutions.” (ILKHA)