Turkey hosts Iran, Russia to discuss Syria’s future
Iran’s president traveled to Ankara for the second trilateral summit on Syria with Turkish and Russian counterparts.
On April 4, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attended a trilateral summit with his Turkish and Russian counterparts to discuss the path forward in Syria. As expected, the trip gained the attention of Iranian media and foreign policy analysts in Tehran.
This is the second trilateral summit for the three presidents. In November, Vladimir Putin hosted Rouhani and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi to discuss the Syrian issue.
Government-run newspaper Iran wrote April 4 that the trilateral meeting in Ankara is important due to “recent positive and negative developments in Syria,” including “[US President Donald] Trump’s decision to withdraw US forces from Syria,” “the disagreements between the governments of Syria and Turkey over the Turkish army’s movements in Afrin” and the eastern Ghouta issue.
Nosratollah Tajik, a former Iranian ambassador to Jordan, believes that the aim of the trilateral summit is primarily to coordinate positions for how to deal with future developments in Syria.
