Turkey will monitor truce from Eskişehir, Russia from Hmeimim air bases

Turkey and Russia will establish joint monitoring centers in the Eskişehir Main Air Base in Turkey and Hmeimim Air Base in Syria to closely follow the implementation of a cease-fire between the Syrian regime and opposition groups, a senior Turkish official has said. 

"We, as Ankara and Moscow, will follow the cease-fire process together. We have already been working very closely in the recent month. We will monitor from the Eskişehir base and they will from their Hmeimim base. But our ground forces will also keep track of developments and inform both our monitoring centers," the official told Hürriyet Daily News on Dec. 30. 

In an interview with daily Hürriyet, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Dec. 29 confirmed the establishment of the joint monitoring centers between Turkey and Russia as guarantor countries of the agreement between the regime and the opposition and said a hot line between the Turkish and Russian air bases would be established to coordinate the truce process and investigate any potential violation. 

The Bashar al-Assad regime and the opposition groups have agreed to extend the ceasefire to all of Syria and to launch fresh political talks in Astana on Dec. 29 after Turkey and Russia exerted great efforts through intense diplomatic relations. The ceasefire went into force on Dec. 30. 
 

Most important success in the last 6 years 

The most important point in the agreement provided between the fighting parties is the fact that both their political representatives and commanders have expressed their approval to the ceasefire, the source said.

"This may be described as the most important success in six years of the Syrian unrest. They have also agreed not to expand territories...