Puitn, Erdogan and Rouhani to discuss Syria in Sochi

Russian, Turkish and Iranian Presidents Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hassan Rouhani will be discussing "all Syrian agenda" in Sochi, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said.

"These are security underwriters and they will be discussing Syrian settlement," he noted. 

The Kremlin press service said earlier that the Syrian settlement process, particularly in view of the productive joint work in the Astana format, will be discussed at the meeting in detail. "Given the successes achieved in the fight against terrorism and the marked reduction in the level of violence in Syria, the discussion is expected to touch on further steps to ensure the long-term normalisation of the situation in that country," the press service added.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will meet in Antalya this week, the Turkish Foreign Ministry in a statement today. During the meeting, discussions will be held on the settlement of the Syrian crisis, according to the ministry.

The President of the National Strategy Institute, Mikhail Remizov, speaking with the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, said that at the moment the issue of Syria's post-war structure remains open, although the war is nearing completion. "This issue can be solved on the basis of some kind of new balance between regional powers, such as Turkey and Iran, and external centers of power, such as Russia," he explained.

According to the expert, the political dialogue between Russia, Turkey and Iran played an important role in the fight against ISIS after the capture of Mosul. "Without agreements with Turkey, it would be either impossible or significantly more difficult," the President of the National Strategy Institute noted.

He added that the agenda of the tripartite meeting will be very rich. "First of all, it will be about the control zones transformation, the Syrian government, the territorial integrity of the republic, the post-war constitutional order. Of course, the topic of Bashar Assad's future also remains on the agenda," Mikhail Remizov concluded.

The political analyst Hakan Aksay, in turn, said that the trilateral negotiating format of Russia-Turkey-Iran had worked well, although there were constant contradictions.

"Every player has its own ambitions. Iran is not always inclined to a peaceful resolution of the Syrian crisis, it wants to fight to a victorious end. Turkey wants to play a big role in the region and is opposed to the Kurds. Russia as the main force wants to reassure the two powers and direct them towards a peaceful solution of the Syrian crisis and in its own favor and in favor of the Syrian President Assad," the expert explained.

According to him, such a tripartite meeting is extremely important right now, when there is much talk about the end of the Syrian crisis. Aksay drew attention to the fact that the presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran will meet in such a trilateral format for the first time.

Commenting on the specific agenda, the political scientist expressed the opinion that the leaders of Russia, Iran and Turkey will discuss the situation in Idlib, in the security zones, as well as positions of different forces in the final peace-making process. "Apparently, Russia is trying to consolidate Iran and Turkey and persuade the leaders of these two countries to fully restore Bashar Assad's power in Syria. It is very important that sooner or later there is an initiative to reconcile the leaders of Turkey and Syria, because with Russia's support Assad will be a leader of Syria. And Turkey should somehow restore diplomatic relations with the Syrian leadership," Hakan Aksay concluded.