Turkish delegation to visit Russia next week: FM says

A Turkish delegation will visit Russia’s capital next week for technical talks ahead of a planned Turkish, Russian, Iranian and Syrian foreign ministers’ meeting, Turkiye’s foreign minister said today.

“An offer came from the Russians to hold a meeting at the technical level in preparation for a possible meeting of foreign ministers. We will also send our deputy minister to Moscow next week.”

“The Iranian side will also attend this meeting. At this meeting, preparations for the foreign ministers’ meeting will be made,” Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a news conference with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian in the capital Ankara.

On 28 December 2022, the Turkish, Russian and Syrian defence ministers met in Moscow to discuss counterterrorism efforts in Syria and agreed to continue the tripartite meetings to ensure stability in Syria and the wider region.

READ: Iran will participate in improving Turkiye-Syria relations

About the possibility of the inclusion of Iran into the talks, Turkiye previously said Ankara would be “pleased if Iran is involved in this process.”

Although no date or location have yet been announced, the foreign ministers’ meeting would mark another high-level talk since the Syrian civil war began in 2011.

Abdollahian, for his part, said Iran is ready to play a role to resolve the different points of view between Turkiye and Syria under the regional cooperation.

“Iran declares that it is ready for any kind of quadrilateral format between Tehran, Moscow, Ankara, and Damascus,” he added.

Bilateral ties

Cavusoglu said he will visit Tehran soon, without giving a specific time. He also added that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will visit Turkiye to meet his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which was planned ahead of the earthquakes which struck Turkiye on 6 February.

The minister also said that besides regional and international issues, they also discussed energy, trade, economy and transportation.