Erdogan Putin co-ordinates operations in Syria

The meeting between leaders of the two countries positioned in opposite directions in the Syrian conflict comes after the United States' decision to withdraw troops from the troubled country. The talks lasted about three hours.

“Co-operation between Russia and Turkey is an important cornerstone for Syrian peace and stability. With Russian friends, we intend to strengthen our co-ordination further”, Erdoani said.

Putin clarified that he has agreed on ways to co-ordinate work in the near future, while the meeting that included and the defence ministers described him as constructive.

This is practically an approach that, under other circumstances, would be considered to be a dead end: Russia is a strong supporter of the Syrian government, while Turkey has supported rebel groups fighting Bashar al-Assad's military forces. In short, they have chosen to work closer to each other for finding a political solution to the 7-year-old war.

They will co-ordinate operations on the ground following Donald Trump's surprise decision to withdraw 2,000 soldiers from Syria -- a movement reportedly discussed with Erduan -- but taken contrary to the strong warnings of some senior administration officials Trump.