Reuters: Moscow to host Syria, Turkey, Iran, Russia meeting

A senior Iranian foreign ministry official has confirmed that Moscow will host a meeting between the deputy foreign ministers of Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Russia during the first week of April. Reuters reports that Turkey’s ministry has not commented on the development, whereas a Syrian source has confirmed that the talk will take place.

Though on opposing sides of the Syrian conflict, Turkey and Syria had held meetings in 2022 at the encouragement of Russia. The conflict will be discussed in the April meeting between the deputy ministers as part of a continuing attempt to normalize ties. However, Syrian President Assad has expressed that he will not meet with President Erdogan until Turkish forces withdraw from northern Syria.

An official speaking to Reuters has emphasized that no significant decision is expected from the Moscow meeting since “there will be no ministerial-level participation and the meeting will be at a technical level.”

According to Reuters, “Russia hosted a meeting of the Syrian and Turkish defense ministers in December, since when the original tripartite talks have been widened to include Assad’s other ally Iran, which has publicly supported the rapprochement.”