MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th May, 2023) The normalization of ties between Syria and Turkey creates new prospects for the Astana format on the Syrian conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, a quadrilateral ministerial meeting on the normalization of ties between Syria and Turkey took place in Moscow, with the top diplomats from Russia, Iran, Turkey and Syria participating in the event.
"Accordingly, this situation (the normalization of relations between Damascus and Ankara) opens up new prospects and opportunities for the Astana format which we all cherish," Lavrov said following the meeting.
In 2017, Russia, Turkey and Iran launched a mediation group on the Syrian settlement in Astana. In January 2018, the Russian city of Sochi hosted a congress of the Syrian national dialogue, the first such attempt since the start of the conflict to gather an inclusive pool of Syrian political forces. The main outcome of the Congress was the decision to create a Constitutional Committee, which operates in Geneva and whose main task is to prepare a constitutional reform in Syria.
