MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/. The Russian and Turkish presidents, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have discussed the normalization of relations between Ankara and Damascus in a phone call on Monday, the Kremlin press service reported.
The presidents "discussed the normalization of Turkish-Syrian relations, including in the context of Ankara's initiative to launch consultations involving Russian, Turkish and Syrian representatives," the press service said.
The leaders also emphasized the practical importance of the teamwork of Russia, Turkey and Iran within the framework of the Astana process to facilitate the Syrian settlement.
Russia, Turkey and Iran act as guarantors of the peaceful settlement of the Syrian conflict. They also initiated a format for a political settlement in Syria, which was called ‘the Astana process’ (negotiations were launched in January 2017 in the capital city of Kazakhstan).