Erdogan: Turkey Seeks to Hold Summit With France, Germany and Russia on Syria

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seeks to organize a summit in Istanbul along with leaders of great powers such as France, Germany and Russia to discuss to resolve the Syrian conflict.

“We will discuss what we can do in the region together,” Erdogan told journalists during his visit to South Africa. 

Erdogan met with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit on the sidelines of Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa summit of leading emerging economies in Johannesburg.

“We will separately have a summit in Istanbul on Sep 7 with Russia, Germany, France and Turkey,” Erdogan was quoted as saying.

There was no immediate confirmation from Moscow, Paris or Berlin.

The seven-year conflict in Syria is likely to be high on the four countries’ agenda as Russia, Iran and Turkey continue their efforts to end the war under the Astana peace process launched last year despite being on opposing sides.

While Moscow and Tehran support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad‘s regime, Ankara has repeatedly called for his ouster and helped Syrian rebels.

In April, Erdogan held a summit with Putin and Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani in Ankara.

The three leaders are due to meet again in the near future in Tehran, Erdogan said without giving an exact date, while technical talks as part of the Astana process will take place on Monday and Tuesday in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in Russia.