Iran, Russia, Türkiye, Syria FMs to meet in May

Russian Ambassador to Syria Aleksandr Yefimov has said that the quadrilateral meeting of foreign ministers of Iran, Russia, Syria and Türkiye was postponed to May.

In an interview with El Watan newspaper, Yefimov stated that the contacts and consultations are continuing between the relevant parties to achieve positive results in this framework, according to the Mehr news agency.

Saying that the quadrilateral meeting was supposed to be held on April 10, but it was postponed to early May, the Russian envoy added that the road to normalisation of relations between Ankara and Damascus is long and it is not possible to examine all the cases during one round of dialogue or negotiation.

Referring to his country's efforts to hold a quadrilateral meeting, Yefimov expressed hope that positive results will be achieved in this regard.

Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the senior diplomats of Russia, Iran, Syria and Türkiye discussed the planning for a four-party ministerial meeting during consultations in Moscow on April 3-4.

Consultations between the defence ministers of Russia, Syria and Türkiye took place in Moscow on December 28, 2022, as part of efforts to normalise relations between Ankara and Damascus. The meeting’s participants reached an agreement to create a trilateral commission. A meeting between top diplomats is expected to follow the consultations to discuss the possibility of talks between Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Türkiye and Bashar Assad of Syria. Later, it was reported that Iran would join the consultations at the level of foreign ministries.

Erdogan told reporters on December 15, 2022, that he had suggested Russian President Vladimir Putin host a trilateral meeting involving the Syrian president, adding that the summit should be preceded by a meeting between officials from intelligence agencies, defence and foreign ministries.