Speaking to Mehr News correspondent on Wednesday, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said the tripartite summit on the Syrian crisis will take place at the official request of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his separate phone calls with President Rouhani and President Putin.
During his call on Wednesday, President Rouhani reminded his Turkish counterpart of the heavy responsibility of Iran and Turkey as the two Muslim neighbors of Syria towards Syrian people and called for measures to prevent another humanitarian catastrophe to take place in eastern Ghouta.
The summit in Istanbul will follow the first Syria summit attended by Turkish, Russian and Iranian presidents held in the Russian Black Sea city of Sochi on Nov. 22, 2017.
Ghasemi put the possible date for the second summit sometime in May. Meanwhile, Turkish state-run Anadolu News Agency reported Wednesday that the summit may be held on April 4.
According to Ghasemi, the summit will focus on the latest Syrian developments and the Astana peace process, cooperation on combating terrorism, as well as defending the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria.
Meanwhile, the next Astana peace process will be held on March 16, attended by the foreign ministers of the guarantor states of the cessation of hostilities in Syria (Russia, Iran and Turkey).
During the talks, the participants plan to analyze the results reached over the first year of interaction on regulating the situation in Syria, as well as to establish further joint actions, the statement added.
It is noted that the meeting of the ministers in Astana is planned to be without the observers and Syrian sides, but Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General Staffan de Mistura will be invited to the meeting.
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