Small afterword to the four-sided summit in Istanbul

The results of the summit, held on October 27 in Istanbul with the participation of the leaders of Russia, France, Germany and Turkey, turned out to be nothing more than a statement of the decisions taken in January 2017 at a meeting between Russia, Iran and Turkey. Thus, the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, reiterated the "need to preserve the territorial integrity of Syria and cleanse the country of terrorism."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan again raised questions about "the power to be formed by the will of the Syrian people, the fight against LIH and the PKK"s terrorism, refugees and humanitarian aid"; French President Emmanuel Macron, who first participated in a meeting of this format, again, like at other venues, spoke in Istanbul about the need for an "international approach". And the Federal Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, seems to have arrived in Istanbul more to resolve some issues relating to Turkish-German relations than the problems of Syria.

Paris"s plans, which until now had attempted to manipulate "chemical weapons" to give legitimacy to the "missile strikes of the West", were frustrated in April by İndependent correspondent Robert Fisk, 42 ​​years old, living in the Middle East (currently writes from Beirut). Therefore, at the Istanbul summit there was no point in expecting constructive proposals from Macron: given the current situation in relations between the USA and Turkey, the USA and Russia, the USA and Germany, the appearance of Macron in Istanbul, as opposed to Donald Trump, together with Putin, Merkel and Erdogan more it was necessary for all three leaders only for "charisma".

In fact, the Turkish president wanted the summit to be held in Moscow in early September and even announced that desire. However, for Vladimir Putin, the vital issue in Syria is the cleansing of Idlib from radical religious terrorists. The Kremlin believed that Turkey was "patronizing" the terrorists in Idlib, so after the meeting of presidents Putin and Erdogan in Sochi on September 17, Turkey was given 25 days to clear Idlib of militants. About three weeks ago, Russia also announced "the beginning of the withdrawal of its heavy weapons by terrorists from Idlib," and some Turkish media close to the authorities confirmed this. However, there is still no concrete answer to the question: have the radical terrorist groups that left Syria completely left the Idlib or settled in some regions of the country?

And if these groups were located in the northern regions of Syria under Turkish control, then the question arises: did Russia not know about this, or did the Kremlin itself sanction it?

On the eve of the Istanbul summit, President Erdogan reiterated that: "An operation against the separatist terror PYD/YPG will be carried out on the East coast of the Euphrates in the near future, and a few days later stated that there is no threat to Turkey in this region. If the situation with the clearing of Idlib from militants satisfies Moscow, and the situation on the East Bank of the Euphrates River - Ankara, hasn"t a summit been held in Istanbul to determine Syria"s political future?

By the end of the year, the Syrian Constitutional Committee will be created, while the Russian delegation presented the draft constitution of Syria to Turkey at the Astana summit, and then the Turkish delegation categorically opposed the provision on "secularization" contained in the draft.

The "Riyadh Group", to which Turkey is located and which is supported by Saudi Arabia, strongly rejects any discussions about "secularism". And a number of similar and almost innumerable arguments, despite all the optimism of Turkey, again brings up the important question: will the Kremlin, and if it can, push the process out of the region, bring Paris and Berlin to the Syrian process?

What will be the position not covered by this format in the situation after the Istanbul Summit? Will the statement on October 27 weaken Washington"s support for the PYD / YPG alliance? Or did Vladimir Putin, who met with President Erdogan almost every month, mainly aims to close the eyes on the deployment of militants who left Idlib (their number is unknown) in the northern territories of Syria controlled by Turkey and push Turkey to the United States on the East Euphrates? Actually, it is impossible to convince anyone that the Russian leader just came to Istanbul.