Deputy foreign ministers from Russia, Turkey, Syria and Iran on Tuesday completed two days of talks in Moscow aimed at restoring ties between Ankara and Damascus, in a step aimed at easing the international isolation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The four countries discussed preparations for a meeting between their top diplomats, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website that gave no further details.
The diplomatic push, opposed by the U.S., is part of broader efforts by Russia and China to challenge Washington in the Middle East. It comes after China demonstrated its new-found weight in the region by brokering a diplomatic detente between Iran and U.S. ally Saudi Arabia. The U.S. has about 900 troops in Syria, a presence that Moscow and Damascus have long sought to end.
The four-way talks had been scheduled to take place last month but were postponed. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who faces a reelection battle in May, has said he’s willing to sit down with Assad to promote peace in the region.
In another signal of Assad coming in from the cold, Saudi Arabia plans to invite him to a summit of Arab leaders that Riyadh is hosting in May, Reuters reported Sunday. Syria, whose deadly crackdown on protests in 2011 morphed into a war against rebels backed by outside powers, remains under U.S. and European sanctions and is suspended from the Arab League.
Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Assad in Moscow March 15 as the Kremlin stepped up its efforts to repair relations between Turkey and Syria. Putin sent Russian forces to back Assad in the war, while Turkey supported rebels and has a troop presence in northern Syria.
