Russia considers it logical to include Iran in talks on the Turkey-Syria settlement, a relevant agreement has been reached, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday at a press conference following talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.
Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan admitted that Tehran could join normalization talks between Ankara and Damascus, which also involve Moscow.
Lavrov said Russia supported Turkey's commitment to normalize relations with Syria and would develop work in this direction. " Of course, the relevant agreement has now been reached on involving the Islamic Republic of Iran in this work. Russia, Iran and Turkey are all members of the Astana troika, which has been handling the Syrian settlement. Therefore, I think it is absolutely logical that further contacts on promoting the normalization of Turkish-Syrian relations will involve Russia and Iran," he said, answering a question to TASS.
"As for the timeframe and specific formats of participation - be it the military or diplomatic or other levels - they are being discussed now. We have a full understanding that it is necessary to move step by step so that each next step would yield at least some albeit small, yet specific results," the minister pointed out.
On December 28 last year, the Russian defense ministry said that Russian, Syrian and Turkish defense ministers met in Moscow to discuss ways of solving the Syrian crisis, the problem of refugees and joint efforts against extremist groups in Syria. The Russian side reported that the sides pointed to the constructive nature of the dialogue in this format and the need to continue it in order to stabilize the situation in the Arab republic as well as in the region. The Syrian defense ministry described the meeting as positive.
At the current stage the contacts between the relevant agencies continue, including the discussion of the possibility of arranging a meeting between the foreign ministers and then the leaders of Turkey and Syria.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS