Turkey plans to return at least two million refugees to Syria's north where Ankara had held Operation Peace Spring, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday after talks in the Astana format with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, Trend reports citing TASS.
"We aim at returning refugees, and this return should be safe, it should be carried out in accordance with international law, as well as in coordination with UN agencies," Cavusoglu said. "We think that two million refugees may return to territories liberated from terrorists," he added.
Cavusoglu also called the launch of the Syrian Constitutional Committee "a big and brave step forward" in the process of political settlement of the Syrian crisis.
The foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey and Iran Sergey Lavrov, Mevlut Cavusoglu and Javad Zarif held talks in the Astana format in Geneva on Tuesday. They discussed the situation in Syria and the launch of the Syrian Constitutional Committee which will hold its first session on October 30.