Russia, Turkey and Iran have the potential to resolve the Syrian crisis. Senator Andrey Klimov, a member of the bureau of the Supreme Council of the "United Russia" party, deputy chairman of the commission of the party's general council for international cooperation and support of compatriots abroad, said this at a meeting with Russian and Turkish media representatives at the Russian embassy in Ankara on Tuesday.
"I think that with joint efforts we will also solve them. Moscow has open, deep and very serious channels of dialogue with both Damascus and Ankara. So does Tehran. So we have the potential to resolve all the disputes that have accumulated over the course of a year or three or even ten years. So I am cautiously optimistic about this story," he responded to a request to comment on publications about the possibility of improving relations between Ankara and Damascus.
"I think Ankara would like to have peace in its south. But believe me, Damascus also wants peace in the north. The trouble is that there are too many players gathered there. Moscow's role is to help all the parties interested in this problem find the best solution as quickly as possible. If we were not prevented from looking for these solutions, we would have found them long ago," Klimov added.
Turkish media reported following the talks between Turkish and Russian Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin in Sochi on August 5 that Ankara was discussing the possibility of establishing direct contacts between the Turkish and Syrian leaders. In this regard, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that talks between Erdogan and Bashar al-Assad are not planned and that contacts between Turkey and Syria are currently being maintained through the special services. For his part, the Turkish leader said that Ankara does not aim to overthrow Assad, is in favor of Syria's territorial integrity and prefers diplomacy to solve existing problems.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: anjči/Creative Commons 2.0
Based on materials from TASS