Lavrov: Consultations ongoing for quadrilateral meeting on Turkey-Syria normalization

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that consultations were ongoing to agree on the "date, location, and parameters" of the quadrilateral meeting between the foreign ministers of Turkey, Syria, Russia, and Iran as part of the normalization steps between Turkey and Syria.

When asked about the preparations for the quadrilateral meeting, Lavrov said, "Yes, we are currently trying to agree on the date, location, and parameters of the negotiations."

Lavrov also added that there should be no preconditions for the meeting, saying, "Our position is quite simple: there can be no place for preconditions here."

As part of the normalization steps with Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin's Special Representative for the Middle East and Africa, Mikhail Bogdanov, Iran's Political Affairs Advisor to the Foreign Minister, Ali Asghar Khaji, and Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister, Faisal Mekdad, representing the Syrian government, had met in Moscow, the capital of Russia.

After two days of talks, on April 4, the parties announced that they had agreed to continue consultations at the level of deputy foreign ministers on the issue of Syria.

According to the statement, the parties expressed their positions and views "transparently and openly" while discussing the preparations for the foreign ministers' meeting and stated that they had agreed to continue consultations in this context.

On April 10, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, "A meeting at the level of foreign ministers is planned in the quadrilateral format. We discussed this during Lavrov's visit to Turkey and during our meeting with President Erdogan. We think it will take place around the beginning of May. According to the preliminary information we received from the Russians, it will be held in Moscow."