Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed his Iranian and Turkish counterparts, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hassan Rouhani, for a trilateral summit on Syria, which aims at stepping up efforts to resolve the years of conflict in the war-torn-country that claimed the lives of more than a million peoples. During the summit, which takes place in the Russian resort city of Sochi, President Putin declared a “new stage” had been reached in the Syria crisis, but achieving a political solution to the conflict would require compromises from all sides, including the Syrian government, which it backs. President Putin said, “We can state with certainty that we came to a new stage which opens a possibility to initiate a real political process of settlement. I believe that our efforts should be concentrated on securing long-term normalization in Syria, first of all meaning the process of political settlement with finalizing these talks in the frameworks of the Geneva process. And on assisting the reconstruction of the country in the post-conflict period,” the Russian leader asserted in his statement to the trilateral summit.
President Putin underlined that while both regional and international powers are keen to assert their strategic interests in Syria, only the Syrian peoples themselves will determine their future, in negotiating principles of a state model – signaling a clear message that was earlier echoed by his Iranian and Turkish counterparts, that any external interference would be thwarted by Moscow. The Russian President said, “Syrian people will themselves determine their future, to negotiate the principles of the state model. It is obvious that the process of reforms will not be an easy one, it will require compromises and concessions from all of its participants including of course the Syrian government. I hope that Russia, Iran and Turkey together will apply the most active efforts to make this work the most productive one. I am convinced that the success of the upcoming transformations largely depends on solution of social-economic problems of Syria,” Putin declared.
Following their trilateral meeting, the three leaders, in a joint statement, called on the Syrian government and moderate opposition to “participate constructively” in the planned congress, to be held in the city of Sochi on a date yet to be revealed.