Turkey and Russia will implement Syria ceasefire 'before New Year'
But Turkey's insistence on resignation of President Bashar al-Assad, widely believed to have used chemical weapons against own civilians, could complicate peace process
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Your support makes all the difference.Turkey and Russia are planning to implement a countrywide ceasefire in Syria before the start of the New Year.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has also told the nation's A Haber television broadcaster that all foreign fighter groups, including Shia militant group and President Bashar al-Assad ally Hezbollah, need to leave the war-torn country.
It follows unconfirmed reports that the two governments had already agreed terms of a ceasefire deal in the wake of the evacuation of around 34,000 from under-siege Aleppo.
“We are planning to secure this before the beginning of the New Year,” said Mr Cavusoglu.
"We are on the verge of an agreement with Russia. If everything goes all right, we will make this agreement."
In the same interview, he said there is no joint operation between Turkey and Russia against Isis in the Syrian stronghold of al-Bab and that the US was not giving air support to its Syria operation.
The former migration committee chairman, who said Russia and Turkey will both be guarantors but that there is "nothing final" over whether Iran will also sign, added: "All foreign fighters need to leave Syria. Hezbollah needs to return to Lebanon."
He also said the talks were "not an alternative" to United Nations-backed negotiations in Geneva, but were a "complementary step", and said dialogue between Turkey and President Assad was "out of the question".
Russia, Iran and Turkey said last week they were ready to help broker a peace deal after holding talks in Moscow.
Ankara and the Kremlin however fail to agree over President Assad, who is supported by President Vladimir Putin but vehemently opposed as a "tyrant" by Turkey's President Recep Erdogan.
A potential ceasefire in September, brokered by the US and Russia, failed as the Syrian government continued bombing rebel-held areas.
The war in Syria has killed potentially more than 430,000, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights - a monitoring group - and an estimated 11 million Syrians have fled their homes since March 2011.
Around one million Syrians have requested asylum to Europe, including 300,000 applications to Germany, according to the European University Institute in Florence.
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