OREANDA-NEWS. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Syrian government forces should retreat beyond Turkish observation posts in the Idlib de-escalation zone by late February. The politician threatened that Turkey will be forced to provide it itself, if this does not happen.

“Turkey will strike in response to shelling and attacks on Turkish troops and friendly forces. Ankara will take retaliatory steps without any warning and will not make any distinction on what force would attack,” Erdogan said at a meeting of the parliamentary faction of the ruling Justice and Development Party. He also noted that the agreements on Syria are “grossly ignored.”

“The shelling of Turkish troops in Idlib became for Ankara a new stage in the processes in Syria. Just as the al-Assad regime responds to the slightest violations of the opposition groups by powerful shelling, so Turkey will respond with strikes to violation of the agreements on Idlib,” the Turkish President said.