Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced Tuesday an agreement to incorporate Iran into the process of normalizing diplomatic relations between Turkey and Syria, which is mired in a civil war that began almost twelve years ago in 2011.
«Both Russia, Iran and Turkey are part of the Astana trio, which is engaged in the Syrian settlement. Therefore, I consider it absolutely logical that additional contacts dedicated to promoting the normalization of Turkish-Syrian relations should be accompanied by Russia and Iran,» he said at a press conference reported by the Interfax news agency.
Lavrov has added, however, that both the format of the trilateral contacts and their possible date are being negotiated. «We have a mutual understanding that we should move forward step by step, so that each next step would bring at least some concrete results,» he added.
A week ago, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard commander Husein Salami, in remarks reported by Tasnim news agency, said Tehran would send military aid to the Syrian Armed Forces.
Iran is, together with Russia, the main ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the framework of the armed conflict, although Tehran had previously indicated that it would only help the country through military advisors and not through military equipment.
For its part, Russia is one of al-Assad’s main international supporters, and its military intervention in 2015 enabled government forces to repel rebel advances and regain the initiative on the battlefield.
The process of negotiations between Damascus and Ankara seems to be shaping up clearly after the meeting that took place at the end of December between Syrian Defense Minister Ali Mahmoud Abbas, his Turkish counterpart, Hulusi Akar, and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Moscow.
The meeting, the first of its kind since the outbreak of the Syrian war in 2011, took place after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan proposed to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in mid-December to hold a trilateral meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and thus open a process of negotiations to normalize bilateral ties.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
