Turkey: Parliament set to hold closed session on Syria

ANKARA

In the wake of a deadly Assad regime attack on Turkish soldiers in Idlib, northwestern Syria, Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party will propose a closed parliamentary session on Syria next Tuesday, said the party's group chair.

"We will propose a closed session in which the national defense minister briefs parliament," Naci Bostanci told reporters in parliament on Friday.

Bostanci said that there was no reason to hold an immediate session in the parliament.

Separately, the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) is set to hold a parliamentary group meeting on Syria this Saturday.

Late Thursday, at least 33 Turkish soldiers were martyred and dozens of others injured in an airstrike by Assad regime forces in the Idlib, Syria de-escalation zone, just across Turkey’s southern border.

The Turkish soldiers are working to protect local civilians under a 2018 deal with Russia in which acts of aggression are prohibited in the region.

The attack was quickly followed by large Turkish strikes on Assad regime forces.

Since Turkey and Russia reached the 2018 deal on Idlib, over 1,300 civilians have been killed in the de-escalation zone, in clear violation of the deal.

Following intense attacks by the Assad regime and its allies, over a million Syrians have flocked towards the Turkish border.

Since the eruption of the bloody civil war in Syria in 2011, Turkey has taken in some 3.7 million fleeing Syrians, making Turkey the world’s top refugee-hosting country.