Iran, Russia, Turkey Hold Trilateral Summit on Syria Crisis
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his Russian and Turkish counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, held their second tripartite summit in under six months about war-stricken Syria.
In the meeting, held in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Wednesday, Rouhani, Putin, and Erdogan, as the presidents of three guarantor countries of the de-escalation zones in Syria, exchanged views about ways to resolve the crisis in the Arab country through peaceful means.
Maintaining the territorial integrity of Syria, protecting the de-escalation zones created during the Astana peace process, and steps needed to be taken to resolve the Syrian conflicts politically as well as the fight against terrorism were the main topics of the meeting’s agenda.
It is the second such tripartite summit after the first was hosted by Putin in November in the Black Sea city of Sochi.
As the three countries launched Syria peace talks in Astana, they held a series of summits in Sochi to bring together the conflicting parties in Syria.
Within the framework of these efforts, they agreed in Astana to establish de-escalation zones in the Arab country's northern province of Idlib and parts of neighboring Latakia, Hama and Aleppo. Under the Astana agreement, Turkey is to gradually establish 12 observation points from Idlib's north to south to monitor and sustain the current cease-fire agreement for the de-escalation zones, deliver humanitarian aid and ensure the secure return of displaced people.
The leaders of the three countries have been stressing that the de-escalation zones deal has been successful in ending clashes in various locations. However, a countrywide cease-fire to end the armed conflicts has not been achieved so far.
