Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan believes that more Syrian refugees will be able to return home thanks to the work being done with Russia and Syria. He said this on Wednesday, speaking at the international conference of ombudsmen "The Future of Human Rights in the 21st Century" held in Ankara.
"Hopefully, thanks to our diplomatic efforts with Russia and Syria, more refugees will return to Syria. So far, thanks to this work, 550,000 people have returned to their homes," he said.
Erdogan reminded that since the beginning of the crisis in Syria, Turkey "has sheltered about 4 million oppressed and destitute Syrians, including 3.5 million who fled the war zone". He separately noted that joint work in the trilateral format between Turkey, Russia and Syria "has begun to bear fruit."
Erdogan said on December 15 that he had offered Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold a trilateral meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The summit, he said, should be preceded by talks at the level of special services, defense and foreign ministers. On December 28, the Russian, Syrian and Turkish defense ministers held consultations in Moscow. Ankara believes that these contacts can potentially create the basis for a full-fledged political settlement in Syria, including the refugee problem.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS