UPDATES WITH REMARKS FROM IRANIAN PRESIDENT
By Ilkay Guder
TEHRAN (AA) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani met Friday ahead of a summit on Syria in the capital Tehran.
The bilateral meeting came before the start of the trilateral summit between leaders of Turkey, Russia, and Iran.
The closed-door meeting among Erdogan and Rouhani at the Sadabad Palace lasted around 45 minutes.
Erdogan was accompanied by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, and Hakan Fidan, chief of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) during the meeting.
Before the meeting, Erdogan said: “Today is a really important and meaningful day… We will hold an important meeting in Tehran following Sochi and Turkey. ”
Rouhani said the three countries will hold a summit to solve regional issues.
“This meeting is also an opportunity to discuss and confer issues between the two countries, ” he added.
The first tripartite summit was held in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi on Nov. 22 to discuss progress made in the Astana peace talks and changes in de-escalation zones across Syria.
The second trilateral meeting was hosted by Erdogan in April in the Turkish capital Ankara.
During the trilateral meeting, Erdogan, Rouhani, and Russia's Vladimir Putin will discuss joint efforts as part of the Astana process and political efforts for finding a lasting solution to the Syrian conflict.
Following the summit, the leaders will hold a joint news conference.
