President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will discuss the Syrian crisis with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, next Monday, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported, citing the Turkish foreign minister.
“Turkey is open to cooperation with everyone on efforts to fight terrorist groups in Syria,” Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said at a joint news conference in Islamabad with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Friday.
Recalling Turkey’s efforts to find a political solution to the ongoing Syrian crisis, he said efforts to reach a cease-fire in Idlib are continuing.
“We will continue our efforts with Iran and Russia. … We will continue our efforts on international platforms as well. We have received tremendous support from many countries as well as the United Nations and other organizations. Therefore, we should continue our efforts to bring peace and stability to the region,” he added.
Erdoğan met with Putin on Sept. 7 at the Tehran Summit, a meeting where the three main outside actors – Turkey, Iran and Russia – discussed the future of Syria as well as a possible Syrian army offensive in the rebel-held Idlib.
As Idlib hosts more than 2 million civilians, a military operation might cause a humanitarian catastrophe, the United Nations recently stated, calling on the parties to reconsider military options.