Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he proposed to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to hold a trilateral meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
"However, this requires that representatives of the security services, then the defense ministers and then the foreign ministers meet. Based on the results of these discussions, it will be possible to talk about a meeting of the leaders. I suggested this to Mr. Putin, and he took the initiative positively. This will start a series of negotiations," the Turkish leader said to reporters of the presidential pool upon his return from the city of Turkmenbashi, where he attended a meeting of the heads of Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan. TRT quoted him as saying on Thursday.
Referring to Turkey's plans to conduct a ground operation in Syria, Erdogan noted that "Ankara is in favor of joint steps taken by Russia, Turkey and Syria."
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS