Iran, Russia, Turkey discuss Syria in Sochi

Representatives of Russia, Iran, and Turkey attended a meeting in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Monday to discuss ways to end war in Syria.

They were to discuss the formation of a Syrian constitutional committee, the de-escalation zones established in Syria and humanitarian issues.

While backing separate sides in the Syrian conflict, Turkey, Russia, and Iran launched a negotiation process last year in the Kazakh capital, Astana, mainly dealing with battlefield issues, such as cease-fire and de-escalation zones.

The Russian delegation in Sochi was headed by the Kremlin’s Special Envoy for Syria Aleksandr Lavrentyev. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari and his Turkish counterpart, Sedat Onal, also attended, along with the UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, and representatives of the Syrian government.

The gathering comes as Turkey announced on July 29 that it is planning to hold a summit with France, Germany, and Russia in early September to discuss the Syrian conflict and other regional issues. In comments published by Turkish media on July 29, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the meeting would take place in Istanbul on September 7.

Russia and Iran have given Syria crucial support throughout the war in Syria, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and uprooted millions since it began in March 2011.

AFP, TASS and Interfax contributed to this story.