Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu revealed today, Saturday, that he will hold a meeting in mid-January with his Russian and Syrian counterparts, in a new step of rapprochement between Ankara and Damascus.
"We decided to hold a tripartite meeting in the second half of January. The meeting may take place in another country," Davutoglu told reporters.
Turkish TV "TRT" stated that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, discussed - during a phone call between them today, Saturday - another tripartite meeting with the Syrian foreign minister.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the two ministers discussed the situation in Syria during the call.
A tripartite meeting held - last Wednesday in Moscow - between the Turkish, Syrian and Russian defense ministers was the first since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in 2011, which later turned into an armed conflict.
The repercussions of the conflict caused great tension in relations between Ankara and Damascus.
The Turkish Ministry of Defense said - after the meeting last Wednesday - that the three parties agreed to continue the meetings.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently indicated that he might meet his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, after meetings at the level of defense and then foreign ministers.