MOSCOW, March 10. /TASS/. Russia continues working on organizing a four-sided meeting at the level of deputy foreign ministers of Russia, Syria, Turkey and Iran in Moscow next week, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told TASS on Thursday.
"We are working on that. Yes, we offered a meeting next week, though we expect all sides to provide final confirmation. We hope it will work out well," he said.
"The Iranian side has confirmed, the Turkish side has confirmed, the Syrian side is going to. But there are certain details, which is why the work is underway," Bogdanov added.
Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a news conference following talks with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian that technical negotiations at the level of deputy foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey, Syria and Iran would be held in Moscow next week. Organization of the ministerial level meeting will be discussed.
On December 28, 2022, consultations were held in Moscow by defense ministers of Russia, Syria and Turkey as part of the process of normalizing relations between Ankara and Damascus. At the meeting, it was agreed to establish a joint tripartite commission. Following the consultations, a meeting of foreign ministers of the three countries should take place. Its agenda will include the issue of negotiations between Turkish and Syrian presidents, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Bashar Assad. Erdogan told reporters on December 15 last year that he had invited his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to hold a trilateral meeting with the Syrian leader. This summit, Erdogan said, should be preceded by negotiations at the level of representatives of special services, and defense and foreign ministers.