Erdogan says no 'full' agreement on Syria summit

Istanbul: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday there was no agreement yet for the leaders of Turkey, Russia, France and Germany to hold a summit over the escalating violence in northern Syria.

The Kremlin indicated a two-way meeting between Turkey's Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin was also not on the cards.

Erdogan on Saturday had announced he would hold a four-party summit with Putin, France's Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on

March 5.

But he told reporters Tuesday in a televised press conference before travelling to Azerbaijan "there is no full agreement" on holding the meeting.

The Turkish leader on Tuesday said he might instead hold face-to-face talks with Putin on March 5, either in Istanbul or in Ankara.

Russia and Turkey have over the last years been working in close coordination to end the conflict in Syria but strains have soared in recent weeks over the escalating violence in the Syrian province of Idlib.

The tensions are seen as the biggest threat to Ankara-Moscow ties since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane over Syria in November

2015.

In Moscow, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that a bilateral meeting between Erdogan and the Russian leader was planned.

"We are not talking about bilateral contacts. But the possibility of a meeting in a multilateral format is being worked out," he told reporters.