Turkey and Russia have agreed on a nationwide cease-fire plan in Syria that will end all hostile activities between the moderate opposition and Assad regime, Ankara and the Kremlin announced on Thursday. The draft text of the agreement surfaced later on the same day. TRT World, Turkey's state-run English language news channel shared the text in a story.
The text is not the final version signed by the all parties, the channel said in its web page, citing Bassam Barabandi, the senior advisor to the opposition High Negotiations Committee.
According to the channel, Hadi Al Bahra, spokesperson of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), also confirmed the document. "Daesh and groups designated by the UN as terror organisations would be excluded from the deal," Al Bahra was quoted as saying in the piece.
The translation of the text is as follows:
1- A ceasefire in all Syrian territory excluding military HQs in areas under Daesh control. The ceasefire will continue as long as the political process is ongoing.
2- The Turkish government guarantees the commitment of the opposition in all the areas that the opposition controls to the ceasefire, including an end to any type of shelling.
3- The Russian Federation guarantees the commitment to the ceasefire, including all types of aerial bombardment and artillery shelling, of the Syrian gov't and its allies in all the territory that they control.
4- The guarantors of the agreement will ensure that the parties in the conflict will not attempt to seize new areas that were not under their control prior to the ceasefire.
5- The guarantors of the agreement will present an appropriate mechanism to monitor the ceasefire based on UN frameworks after the parties agree to these terms.
6- Negotiations will begin as to a political solution one month into the ceasefire.
7- Humanitarian aid will be delivered to all of the besieged areas according to a plan where Russia and Turkey will guarantee full compliance.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin also spoke Thursday on the phone regarding the developments. The two leaders reportedly discussed the cease-fire and the Astana process. The ceasefire will be in effect on December 30.
