Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arrived in Tehran at noon on Friday to attend the Tehran Trilateral Summit on Syria which is in continuation of trilateral efforts of Tehran, Moscow, and Ankara as the guarantor states of Astana format peace talks for Syria.
In addition to discussing Syria with his Iranian and Russian counterparts in the trilateral summit, he will also hold separate bilateral meetings with President Rouhani and President Putin in Tehran.
Turkish Minister of National Defence Hulusi Akar, Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak and Presidency Communications Director Fahrettin Altun are accompanying the Turkish president.
A range of issues are expected to be discussed in Tehran, including securing territorial integrity in Syria, preventing chemical attacks by terrorists, and developments in Idlib.
Meeting with Iranian Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei is also in the agenda of the visiting politician.
A joint final statement has been finalized by the senior representatives of the three countries and it will be released out after being approved by the three presidents at the end of the summit.
Turkey, Russia and Iran are the guarantor states who initiated de-escalation zones in Syria as part of the Astana Peace Process.
The first tripartite summit was held in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi on November 22, 2017 to discuss progress made in the Astana peace talks and changes in de-escalation zones across Syria.
The second trilateral meeting was hosted by Erdogan in April in the Turkish capital city of Ankara.
YNG/