Publish Date: 2 March 2020 - 20:00

TEHRAN, Mar. 02 (MNA) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet and hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday in Moscow.

Talks with Putin on Thursday come amid a surge in fighting between Turkish and Syrian forces in northwest Syria, according to Aljazeera.

Erdogan has said that he hopes to reach a deal on a ceasefire in Syria's northwest when he meets his Russian counterpart Putin later in the week.

"I will go to Moscow on Thursday to discuss the developments in Syria," Erdogan told members of his party in the capital, Ankara.

"I hope that he [Putin] will take the necessary measures there, such as a ceasefire, and that we will find a solution to this affair," Erdogan said in the televised speech on Monday, which came amid rising tensions following a surge in fighting between Turkish and Syrian forces in the war-torn country's Idlib region.

Turkey, which backs certain groups in the last rebel-held stronghold of Idlib, has sent thousands of troops into the province, where a fierce Russia-backed government offensive has forced almost one million people to flee towards the closed Turkish border since December.

MNA/PR