There was one more possibility, and it was caught in Sochi

President Erdoğan accomplished a magnificent feat, with the strong will he displayed at the very moment hopes had been cut off in a humanitarian tragedy approaching Idlib step by step. By going to Sochi and reaching an understanding with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he revived hopes on behalf of humanity.

With the understanding reached with Putin, the military operation on Idlib has been halted. Russia will ensure that Assad does not attack the non-conflict zone, and Turkey will ensure that opposition forces, cleared of heavy weapons, do not attack Russia or regime forces from this point. By October 15, a demilitarized zone extending up to 15-20 km is being created in Idlib. Turkish and Russian soldiers will carry out joint monitoring in this demilitarized zone.

In the name of the humanitarian policy line he has pursued since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, Erdoğan yesterday perhaps achieved his greatest gain. The fundamental basis of the policy Erdoğan has led since the beginning of the Syrian crisis has been the prevention of innocent civilian losses, of people being forced to leave their homes, and of the rights of those forced to flee Assad's tyranny being lost.

Today Idlib is the only place within Syrian territory where those who fled Assad's tyranny can take refuge and breathe. For this reason the region, whose population was one million, has in a short time become a crowded region in which 3.5-4 million people live. This population consists of people who have taken refuge here, saving their lives from the ethnic cleansing operations of the Assad regime, Hizbullah, or terrorist organizations such as DAEŞ and PYD. The great majority of them are of course opposed to the regime, because they are its victims.

The regime's only way of treating its opponents is either to massacre them, or to throw them in prison and wear them down with tortures that drag human dignity along the ground under the harshest conditions, or to let them rot in prisons. That is why armed struggle against Assad had become the Syrian people's most natural right, even their only recourse.

It was Assad's own tyranny that gave the Syrian people the legitimacy and the rightfulness of rebelling against the regime. This right and legitimacy has been recognized by the entire world. Since the situation is very well known, this right had also been recognized by Russia. What Russia recognized, Iran, which supports Hizbullah, which has turned into an apparatus of criminal massacre and terror in Syria, had also been obliged to accept.

That is why, in the negotiations that began in Astana, those who had taken up arms in their rightful rebellion against Assad were accepted as a legitimate party sitting at the table.

Yet the process that was stopped at the last moment, through Turkey's insistence, while approaching step by step in Idlib, was nothing other than an opportunistic exploitation of the time gained in Astana. Russian officials, by saying that they would regard everyone carrying arms outside the Assad regime as terrorists, also attempted to bury the spirit of Astana.

What fell to Turkey was in fact nothing more than reminding of the understanding in Astana. But Assad and Iran, which supports him, thinking that they had caught the opportunity to destroy the opposition they had chased all the way to Idlib, approached the matter with great appetite and forgot the promises they had given. Thus once again the Assad regime showed how untrustworthy it is.

It is understood once again in the clearest way that the only guarantee that will protect Syrian citizens against Assad lies through breaking Assad's influence and keeping him away from Syrians. In the places he somehow keeps under control today, unfortunately there is no mechanism whatsoever to monitor how he treats his opponents through his Shabbiha or his intelligence services (muhaberat), yet every day news comes of hundreds of people's disappearance, arrest, killing, and death in prisons due to severe torture conditions.

The understanding reached in Sochi was in fact an outcome that Turkey had hoped to reach at the Tehran summit. Yet the summit that took place in Tehran ten days ago in front of the whole world's eyes was far from giving hope. So much so that the deep disappointment reflected in President Erdoğan's words on his return from Tehran was spreading a pessimism that the tragedy was imminent in Idlib too. As far as could be seen, the human losses and migrations that could be experienced in the face of a possible attack, and the fact that the bill for these would be paid by Turkey, were not even of concern to Iran or Russia. But it was also seen that Russia stood more open to dialogue on this matter.

Erdoğan did not give up and insisted on getting results from the style of diplomacy he has pursued for years, especially with Russia. If you look at it, what Erdoğan did was nothing but reaping the fruit of the distinctive foreign policy he has pursued until now.

That this result was obtained not at the Summit in which the Iranian leader also took part about ten days ago but in a bilateral meeting with Putin is of course a matter that should be dwelt upon. That Iran's political and religious orientation is so purged of humanitarian sensitivities is of course also a thought-provoking event, both in the name of religion and in the name of the values Iran represents.

In the end, in a field where it is seen once again that Assad has no military worth whatsoever and that Russia is almost the sole determinant, Iran's giving at this very stage a measure of credit to the values Erdoğan represents would have cost Iran nothing but would have gained it a great deal. If only it could have behaved differently.

The understanding reached in Sochi will undoubtedly have many reflections.

With this event, Erdoğan has once again proven his sincerity and determination toward all the values he represents, and has again won great appreciation, above all in the Arab world. But since its result will also present a great bill to Europe, by stopping a humanitarian tragedy that was followed with great concern by EU centers, he has also awakened a feeling of gratitude in Europe.