Russia expects Turkey to be guided by the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Arab Republic in the matter of the Syrian settlement, as Ankara said earlier, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference on Monday following talks with Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry.
"But as for the statement of Mr. [Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim] Kalin, I would rather refer to the statement of [Turkish president Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, who has repeatedly publicly and officially stated that the Syrian Arab Republic is an independent state, that Turkey will fully respect Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Therefore, in the context of the final settlement, of course, we will assume that Turkey is guided by this position," the Russian foreign minister said, commenting on Kalin's claim that Turkey had the same right to enter Syria as Russia and the United States.
Speaking about the presence of foreign armed forces and military units on Syrian territory, Lavrov recalled UN Security Council resolution 2254, which clearly affirms the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic. "According to this resolution, only those armed forces of those countries that have been invited by the legitimate government of the Syrian Arab Republic, a member of the United Nations, have the right to be on the territory of that country. Of course, this also extends to US units. There, by the way, in addition to regular troops, there are also numerous groups of so-called private military companies, this too must be kept in mind," Lavrov noted.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS