A quadrilateral meeting between the deputy foreign ministers of Turkey, Syria, Russia and Iran is taking place on 3-4 April in Moscow, Russia’s capital, announced Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Monday.
“As you know, a process of engagement with Syria started under the hosting and coordination of Russia. Later, Iran was also involved in this process. Some of you were present during our visit to Egypt, and in Egypt we told you that the meeting at the level of deputy ministers had been postponed. Now the date of that meeting has been finalised,” Çavuşoğlu said, quoted in Turkey’s government-run Anadolu Agency.
After an almost 12-year break in once close relations, Syria and Turkey engaged in Russia-brokered reconciliation talks last year, with the highest level of meetings so far held by the three countries’ defence ministers and intelligence chiefs in December 2022. Moscow announced in February that Tehran will also join future talks.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said that the four countries’ deputy foreign ministers would hold a meeting in February, however, no such meeting took place.
The Bashar Assad government in Damascus demands that, in order to reinstate ties between Turkey and Syria, Ankara withdraw from areas it invaded in Syria’s north and end its support to Syrian rebel factions.
