Iran, Turkey and Russia hope they’re all on same page
The three guarantors of the Astana peace talks seek to affirm the stability of the talks as well as the trio itself.
MOSCOW — Thoughts about loyalty, commitment and honesty seem to be pricking the minds of officials involved in Syria peace talks: Turkey’s (few) shared sensibilities with the United States versus Ankara’s loyalty to Iran and Russia; America’s loyalty to armed Kurdish groups versus its promises to Turkey; and everyone’s commitment to peace talks held in Astana, Kazakhstan, versus those taking place in Geneva.
On April 29, the foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey and Iran — the three countries acting as guarantors of the Astana talks — met to discuss Syrian developments for the third time in six weeks and for the first time since the US-led strikes on Syria in mid-April.
Formally, the meeting was mainly about preparing for the ninth round of Syrian peace talks in Astana. But considering Turkey’s support for the US-led attacks, Moscow and Tehran were preoccupied with gauging Ankara’s loyalty to the trio and ensuring the strength of the three-party alliance.
“We agreed to hold this extraordinary meeting at the level of foreign ministers of the Astana format’s countries to discuss this rather complex — highly complex, to be honest — situation in Syria and around it,” Russia's Sergey Lavrov said, opening the talks.
