Erdoğan meets Putin on sidelines of trilateral Syria summit

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin met on the sidelines of a Syria summit in the Iranian capital Tehran on Friday.

The meeting came before the trilateral summit between Erdoğan, Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at the Sadabad Palace.

The closed-door meeting between Erdoğan and Putin lasted for over 45 minutes.

Erdoğan was accompanied by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, Hakan Fidan, chief of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), and presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin during the meeting.

Before having met with Putin, Erdoğan also had a separate closed-door meeting with Rouhani.

During a trilateral summit, the leaders will discuss joint efforts as part of the Astana process and political efforts for finding a lasting solution to the Syrian conflict.

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 Erdoğan in April in the Turkish capital Ankara.