BERLIN (Reuters) – Turkey has played a positive role in Syria’s Idlib province, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Friday after Turkey and Russia announced on Monday that their troops would enforce a new demilitarised zone in Idlib.

“We have also seen that Turkey has played an extraordinarily positive role regarding discussions in Syria and Idlib – ultimately Turkey managed to agree with Russia on a demilitarised zone and that’s extremely important,” Maas said at a news conference in Berlin.

He also stressed that it was in Germany’s interests for Turkey to be stable economically but added that he thought Turkey was able to make the necessary decisions to restore that stability.

(Reporting by Michelle Martin and Thomas Escritt; Editing by Maria Sheahan)