SOCHI, Russia (Dispatches) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that a joint statement on Syria due to be made after his meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin would bring "new hope” to the region.
Erdogan was speaking to reporters before the two men met in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.
"The statement which we will make after the meeting in Sochi will contain new hope for the region,” Erdogan said through an interpreter. He gave no indication of what would be in the statement.
Turkey, which supports Syrian terrorists opposed to President Bashar al-Assad, has been holding talks with his allies Russia and Iran over the fate of Syria’s terrorist-held Idlib and surrounding districts which President Assad has vowed to recapture.
Russia’s military support for the Syrian government has helped reverse years of terrorist gains.
Ahead of the trip to Russia, Erdogan said Turkey’s calls for a ceasefire in Idlib region were bearing fruit after days of relative calm but that more work needed to be done.
"The situation in Idlib has been calm for three days. It looks like we obtained a result with the efforts which were made,” the newspaper quoted Erdogan as telling reporters on a flight back from Azerbaijan at the weekend.
"But we are still not satisfied,” he said. Turkey, with 3.5 million Syrian refugees, has already borne the "political and human burden” of Syria’s seven-year-old conflict and any new refugee flow would head for Turkey, Erdogan said.
 Ankara has established a dozen military observation posts around Idlib, which it has reinforced with troops and equipment in recent weeks according to Turkish and Syrian sources.
Putin this month publicly rebuffed a proposal from Erdogan for a ceasefire there when the two met along with Iran’s president for a three-way summit in Tehran.