Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 4
By Orkhan Quluzade – Trend:
Talks in Astana aimed at Syria settlement will be held Jan. 23, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, Anadolu Agency reported.
Cavusoglu has earlier said that experts from Russia will visit Turkey on Jan. 9-10 to discuss the preparations for talks on Syria.
Meanwhile, the FM noted that if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s supporters do not stop violating the armistice agreement in Syria, the talks in Astana may not be held.
He said that Hezbollah militants, religious groups and government forces of Syria are behind these violations.
Earlier, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had said that he agreed with the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to offer the conflicting parties in Syria to continue peace talks in Astana.
During phone talks with Putin and Erdogan, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev supported this initiative and expressed readiness to provide a platform for such negotiations in Astana.