The Turkish Parliament will hold a special meeting on Tuesday to discuss the conflict in northwestern Syria’s Idlib province.
During the closed session, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu are expected to update members of Parliament on the latest developments in the disputed territory on the Turkish border.
The meeting was scheduled upon a motion from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party). Representatives from other political parties within the parliament are also expected to participate in the session.
Previously, four major political parties within the Parliament issued a joint statement on Friday, condemning the Bashar Assad regime’s airstrikes on Syria’s Idlib on Thursday. The airstrikes killed 33 Turkish soldiers on Thursday, and another three soldiers later died from their injuries sustained during the attack.
AK Party, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Good Party (İP) signed the joint declaration following a special session in Parliament.
“As the political parties in the Turkish Grand National Assembly… we strongly and vehemently condemn this dastardly and atrocious attack,” the parties said in the statement.
“We state that the solution (to the Syria crisis) should be through political means based on international law in order to prevent the humanitarian crisis in the region,” it added.
The Turkish army will successfully carry out the tasks assigned to it by the Turkish Grand National Assembly, the statement said.
The airstrikes by Syrian regime forces that killed the Turkish soldiers in Idlib mark the largest death toll for Turkey in a single day since it first intervened in Syria in 2016.
The deaths illustrated the serious escalation in the direct conflict between Turkish and Russian-backed Assad regime forces which has been ongoing since early February. At least 54 Turkish troops have now been killed in Idlib since the start of February.
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