Ankara: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday held talks with Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani, with Syria likely to dominate the agenda after the surprise US decision to withdraw troops from that country.
The two leaders sat down for the meeting in Ankara, which was arranged before US President Donald Trump’s announcement.
Trump stunned allies and American officials on Wednesday with an order to pull ground forces from the war-ravaged nation.
The US presence has been seen by analysts as key to pushing against Iranian influence.
Ankara has repeatedly called for Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s ouster and supported Syrian opposition fighters. Tehran and Moscow are Damascus’s strongest allies and have helped to turn the war in Assad’s favour.
Despite their differences, Turkey has been working closely with Iran and Russia to find a political solution to the war through the Astana process launched last year. As part of the peace talks which began in the Kazakh capital, the three countries agreed four “de-escalation” zones in Syria.
All of those except the northwestern province of Idlib have been retaken by Damascus.
The Turkish, Iranian and Russian foreign ministers met on Tuesday in Geneva for talks with UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura. Afterwards they voiced hope that a committee tasked with writing a new Syrian constitution would begin early next year.
Turkey and Iran have in recent times focused on developing a pragmatic relationship and boosting trade. — AFP
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