Russia, Turkey, Iran agree on principals for Syria peace talks

Russia, Iran and Turkey have agreed to help broker a Syrian peace deal after they held talks in Moscow yesterday.

The three countries adopted a declaration setting out the principles that needed to be adhered to.

Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, said that an agreement had been reached. The priority was to fight terrorism rather than to remove the Syrian regime led by Bashar Al-Assad.

The declaration stated that any settlement over Syria had to respect the country’s territorial integrity.

Russia’s Minster of Defence, Sergey Shoigu, referring to the principals as the “Moscow Declaration”, said that the trio was confident it would revive the moribund peace process.

“Iran, Russia and Turkey are ready to facilitate the drafting of an agreement, which is already being negotiated, between the Syrian government and the opposition, and to become its guarantors,” the declaration said.

Other countries have been encouraged to adopt the principals. The declaration said: “They [Iran, Russia and Turkey] have invited all other countries with influence over the situation on the ground to do the same [help get a deal]”.

The meeting went ahead despite concerns that it would be derailed by the assassination of the Russian envoy to Turkey.

Pointedly absent from the discussion was the United States and Lavrov took a swipe at Washington by claiming that it had been unable to make good on previous deals reached in Syria.

The move underlines the growing strength of Moscow’s links with Tehran and Ankara, despite the murder on Monday of Russia’s envoy to Turkey Andrei Karlov.