Erdoğan welcomes Iranian President Rouhani in Ankara

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani at the presidential complex in the Turkish capital Ankara on April 4, ahead of a bilateral meeting between the two leaders.  

The meeting, which was announced as closed to the media, started at 10.55 p.m. local time (0755GMT). 

After the meeting, Erdoğan is set to host the trilateral Turkey-Russia-Iran summit on Syria. 

After the summit, Rouhani and Russian President Vladimir Putin will join Erdoğan for a meal, which will be followed by a joint news conference between the three leaders.  

Rouhani greeted by Turkish defense minister

Rouhani and an accompanying delegation arrived at Ankara’s Esenboga Airport on the evening of April 3.

Iranian officials were received by a number of officials including Turkish Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli and Iranian Ambassador to Ankara Mohammad Ebrahim Taherian Fard. 

Back on March 7, Erdoğan and Rouhani had discussed recent developments in Syria and agreed to accelerate efforts to realize a cease-fire in order to end the tragedy in Eastern Ghouta and deliver humanitarian aid to civilians. 

In December 2017, the two leaders also met in Istanbul during an extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, while

in November Putin hosted Erdoğan and Rouhani at a trilateral summit on Syria in the Black Sea resort of Sochi to discuss progress made in the Astana peace talks as well as changes in de-escalation zones across Syria.