MOSCOW (TASS) — During their trilateral summit in Ankara on Monday, the presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran came up with a series of agreements, including on assisting the soonest launch of the Syrian Constitutional Committee. The three leaders agreed to hold the next meeting in this format in Tehran.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani (L-R) after a joint press conference following the 5^th trilateral summit to discuss prospects for Syrian peace process
(© Alexei Nikolsky / Russian Presidential Press and Information Office / TASS)

Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters after the meeting that the list of constitutional committee members “has been fully agreed, with participation of the [Astana process] guarantor nations”., adding, “Now it is necessary to ensure that the constitutional committee begins its work in Geneva as soon as possible.”

The participants of the summit stressed the importance of continuing the struggle against terrorist groups still active on Syria’s soil. At the same time, they pointed out that there had been no alternative to political and diplomatic settlement of the Syrian conflict and spoke in favour of stepping up international humanitarian aid to that country.

The three leaders also discussed the situation in north-eastern, kurdish Syria, saying that stability and security in this region would be possible only if sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country is respected. They agreed to coordinate their actions to that aim. In that regard, Putin, Erdogan and Rouhani rejected all attempts to create “new realities” on the ground under the guise of anti-terrorism efforts, including “illegitimate initiatives on self-governance”.

The presidents of the three states welcomed Lebanon and Iraq as new observers of the Astana process on Syrian settlement.

The leaders of Russia, Iran and Turkey gathered for their first summit on Syria in Russia’s Sochi in November 2017. More trilateral meetings on Syrian settlement were held in Ankara in April 2018, in Teheran in September 2018, and in Sochi in February 2019. For unity of Syria