Iran, Russia and Turkey diplomats meet ahead of Syria meet

ISTANBUL: Top diplomats from Iran, Russia and Turkey met on Sunday in Antalya to discuss the civil war in Syria ahead of a three-way summit in the Russian city of Sochi on Wednesday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and Mohammad Javad Zarif of Iran and in the southern Turkish city for the closed-door meeting, an official said.

In a statement afterwards, Lavrov called the meeting “very productive” and said the envoys had agreed on “all the main issues”, without further details.

The meeting comes as violence is diminishing in Syria’s six-year war although a political solution still seems out of reach.

Moscow, Tehran and Ankara are sponsoring the so-called Astana peace talks, named for the Kazakh capital where they are regularly held, which calls for the creation of “de-escalation” zones in key areas of Syria.

Although Turkey has supported rebels looking to overthrow President Bashar al Assad’s government, it has muted its critiques of the Syrian regime, which is backed by Russia and Iran.

“Thanks to the Astana talks, we have allowed the ceasefire to take hold on the ground with the hope of ‘de-escalation’ zones,” Cavusoglu told Turkey’s Anadolu news agency.

He said it was now time to focus on combatting IS fighters while “putting more emphasis on the political process” for ending the Syrian war. But Cavusoglu said Turkey still remained opposed to any talks involving the Kurdish YPG militia of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which formed the backbone of the campaign to push IS fighters out of Raqa, Syria, last month.