Turkey’s shelling of Syrian territory ‘aimed at derailing reconciliation’ – Russian MOD

Russia considers continuing artillery shelling of Syrian territory by Turkey to be a provocative act aimed at derailing reconciliation process in the war-torn country, the commander of the Russian center for reconciliation in Syria said Wednesday.

Last week, Russia and the United States reached an agreement on the ceasefire in Syria. The cessation of hostilities took effect at midnight on Saturday, Damascus time, generally holding across the country despite reported minor violations.

“The Russian Center is receiving reports from the Syrian General Staff and Kurdish armed groups supporting the ceasefire, that complain of continuing artillery shelling from Turkey,” Lt. Gen. Sergei Kuralenko said at a news briefing.

• On February 13, Turkish artillery began shelling positions held by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish group with links to the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), in Syria’s Aleppo Province.

• On February 25, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that the truce in Syria is not obligatory for Turkey to follow if the country feels a threat against its security.

“We consider these actions by Turkey as blatantly provocative and aimed at derailing the ceasefire regime as well as the reconciliation process in Syria in general,” Kuralenko said.
  [therussophile.org]
2/3/16