Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu announced on Wednesday that the deputy foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey, Syria, and Iran will meet in Moscow next week ahead of planned talks between the foreign ministers of the four countries later. Çavuşoğlu noted that his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, expressed a desire to join the discussions between Turkey and Syria and that Turkey happily agreed.
Çavuşoğlu stated in a joint press conference with Amir-Abdollahian, "Astana is the only remaining format (to engage) with Syria in any case. We are now planning to hold a meeting among the four foreign ministers." He added that "Russia offered to host a preparatory meeting for this quadrilateral meeting. This meeting will be held at the deputy ministers level next week in Moscow."
Moscow supports rapprochement between Damascus and Ankara, having hosted talks between their defense ministers in December, and aims to hold meetings between the foreign ministers and eventually the presidents.
