A four-party meeting that will bring together the foreign ministers of Turkey, Syria, Russia and Iran has been postponed to May, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported.
The news agency cited an interview of Alexander Efimov, the Russian Ambassador to Damascus, with Syria’s al-Watan newspaper.
“Contacts and consultations continue between the parties to achieve positive results on this issue,” the news agency quoted Efimov as saying.
“On April 3-4, 2023, four-party consultations at the level of the deputy foreign ministers of Russia, Iran, Syria, and Turkey were held in Moscow. The parties discussed the issues related to the preparations for a meeting between foreign ministers, and each country expressed its stance and opinions in a transparent and open way. In this context, the parties agreed on continuing consultations,” a source in the Turkish Foreign Ministry previously said about ongoing Moscow-led efforts to reinstate ties between Ankara and Damascus.
After an almost 12-year fall-out in once close relations, Syria and Turkey engaged in Russian-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. Russia announced earlier this year that Iran will join the talks to be held at top diplomatic level.