Russia, Turkey, Iran hold talks on Syria cooperation

The US withdrawal decision is one of the most important tests ahead of us. The uncertainty over how the decision will be implemented remains Recep Tayyip Erdogan,

Turkish President

sochi — The leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran met for talks Thursday on how to work more closely together in Syria as Washington prepares to withdraw its troops from the war-torn country.

President Vladimir Putin hosted Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran’s Hassan Rouhani for the talks in the southern city of Sochi.

Russia and Iran — who both back the regime of President Bashar Al Assad — and rebel supporter Turkey have positioned themselves as the key foreign players in Syria’s long-running war. The eight-year conflict has left more than 360,000 dead.

Meeting with Erdogan ahead of the summit, Putin said he was confident the talks would give a “new impulse” to efforts to resolve the conflict.

“We have done a lot together, we have come a long way,” Putin said. The talks came as Kurdishled forces battled to expel Daesh group fighters from the small town of Baghouz in eastern Syria, the last bastion of their “caliphate” that once controlled large parts of the country.

At Thursday’s meeting with Putin, Erdogan said the planned US pull-out made it more important for other foreign powers to work together in Syria. “The US withdrawal decision is one of the most important tests ahead of us. The uncertainty over how the decision will be implemented remains. It is very very important that we work together in this new situation,” he said. —