Turkish, Syrian and Russian foreign ministers likely to meet in January

A tripartite meeting between the foreign ministers of Turkey, Syria and Russia might be held in the second half of January, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu announced on Saturday.

Çavuşoğlu made his announcement after a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

“We said that the meeting between foreign ministers could be held in the second half of January. The address might be Moscow or another third country,” Çavuşoğlu said.

The tripartite meeting between the foreign ministers will be the second high-level gathering between Turkey and Syria, following the 28 December meeting between defence ministers and intelligence chiefs in Moscow.

A meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad might follow the meeting between the foreign ministers of the two neighbours. Erdoğan and Assad had a close friendship until a civil war broke out in Syria in 2011. The Turkish government’s support to Syrian rebels turned once friends to bitter enemies, exchanging hard accusations with each other.

The Russian-brokered rapprochement between the two countries ushers in a new phase in Erdoğan’s policy towards Russia, but a deep mistrust still dominates the relationship between Ankara and Damascus.