Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday informed his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's surprise visit to Moscow, Turkish presidential sources said.
Over a phone call, Erdogan expressed his concern over an expected refugee influx following Russia's airstrikes in Syria, Xinhua quoted the sources as saying.
During the call, Erdogan observed that Turkey attaches equal importance to fighting all terrorist groups, including the Islamic State (IS), and pointed to the links between the Syrian Kurdish and the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party, which has waged a decades-old insurgency against Turkey.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday flew to Moscow on his first foreign visit since Syria's civil war broke out in 2011, and held talks with his main backer and counterpart Vladimir Putin.