Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Turkish deputy FMs to meet soon

Earlier, Russia’s Special Presidential Envoy for the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told TASS that Moscow was continuing its preparations for a four-party meeting scheduled for this week.

Turkish top diplomat Mevlut Cavusoglu said on March 8 that Moscow might host technical talks involving the four countries. According to him, the parties will discuss preparations for a meeting of their foreign ministers.

Consultations between the defense ministers of Russia, Syria and Turkey took place in Moscow on December 28, 2022, as part of efforts to normalize relations between Ankara and Damascus. The meeting’s participants reached an agreement to create a trilateral commission. A meeting between the three countries’ top diplomats is expected to follow the consultations to discuss the possibility of talks between Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Bashar al-Assad of Syria.

Erdogan told reporters on December 15 that he had suggested Russian President Vladimir Putin host a trilateral meeting involving Assad, adding that the summit should be preceded by a meeting between officials from intelligence agencies, defense and foreign ministers.