Turkish, Russian, Syrian, Iranian ministers to meet early May: Çavuşoğlu

ANKARA

A meeting between the foreign ministers of Türkiye, Russia, Iran and Syria is expected to be held in Moscow next month, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on April 10.

“We think it will happen in a period at the beginning of May, according to the preliminary information we received from the Russians. It will be hosted by Russia in Moscow,” Çavuşoğlu said in a televised interview.

The last meeting held at the level of deputy foreign ministers of the relevant countries emphasized “dialogue,” Çavuşoğlu said.

The aim of this engagement is to revive the political process that has not yielded any results so far, Çavuşoğlu emphasized and reminded that groups such as the Astana format and international initiatives have come together, but no results have been achieved yet.

The minister said that in the forthcoming meeting, the four ministers may also prepare for a possible leaders’ summit. The Turkish government does not take the elections in Türkiye into account in the timing of a possible meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad, the minister underlined.

“Meeting with the regime, Assad or their ministers before or after the election will not be an advantage for us in the election, maybe it will be a disadvantage, but we do not make election calculations here. A crisis that has been going on for more than 11 years has not been resolved in this way or by other methods. Reconstruction of the country... It also requires lasting peace,” he stated.

The minister stressed that a permanent solution and peace in Syria is important both for Syria and other parties.

“A terror corridor could not be formed after our operations, we prevented it. Our operations against both DAESH and YPG/PKK prevented the formation of this corridor. However, the YPG/PKK terrorist organization, which both poses a threat to us and tries to divide Syria, is active especially in the northeast of Syria,” he said.

“On the other hand, although DAESH has disintegrated, there are cells. We need to have a joint fight against terrorism. Türkiye, Syria are the other countries to join, and Iran is also uncomfortable,” he stated.