The Turkish-Russian road map for Syria peace

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu's statement on Dec. 28 that expanding the cease-fire to evacuate Aleppo across Syria was "at hand" thanks to talks with Russia has raised hopes and questions in equal measure.

How could Russia and Turkey work together on ending the civil war in Syria after supporting opposing fighting parties? Were countries like the United States, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Kingdom, for example, included in such a deal? What about the Russia, Turkey, Iran talks on the future of Syria to be held in Astana hosted by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, as declared by Russian President Vladimir Putin and seconded by Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan?

According to diplomatic sources in Ankara, the picture resembles a road map and is not as complicated as it seems, which doesn't mean that it will be possible to achieve it easily.

The suggested process can be divided into three stages in such a way that if an earlier stage fails, the remaining ones will not succeed. 

1- The truce: This is the current stage. If the fighting parties in Syria, forces loyal to the Bashar al-Assad regime and the opposition forces, excluding the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) and al-Nusra, agree to a truce in which Russia and Turkey act not like sides but guarantors, every fighting party would agree to freeze at the points they hold. No air raids or artillery attacks would be made against each other, excluding the forces which are designated as terrorists by all sides, ISIL and al-Qaeda affiliated groups, mainly al-Nusra.

2- The talks: If that truce is achieved, the Syrian representatives of forces loyal to the regime and opposition will be invited to the Kazakh capital of Astana, where Russia, Turkey...