Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 16
By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend:
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami discussed regional issues, Trend reports referring to the Turkish Ministry of National Defense.
It was noted that the meeting of the defense ministers was held in Ankara on the eve of the trilateral summit on Syria, which will be attended by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
"Security issues were also discussed at the meeting," the Turkish Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The first Russian-Turkish-Iranian summit on Syria was held in November 2017 in Sochi, Russia. According to its results, participants stated that the creation of de-escalation zones should not undermine territorial integrity and violate the sovereignty of Syria, and also called on the authorities in Damascus and opposition forces to participate in the Congress of Syrian National Dialogue (the idea was voiced by Putin at the Valdai forum held in Russia in October 2017).
Talks between the presidents of the three countries on the Syrian settlement were then held in Ankara (April 2018), Tehran (September 2018) and Sochi (February 2019).
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