Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu revealed on Monday a four-way ministerial meeting to be hosted by Moscow early next month on Syria, saying it aims to achieve several goals, including preparing for a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad.
In an interview with Turkey's Akhabar TV, Davutoglu said, "We believe that the meeting will be held in early May in the Russian capital, Moscow, according to the preliminary information we received from the Russian side."
"We discussed this meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during his visit to the Turkish capital Ankara last Friday," he said.
He explained that the aim of these talks is to revive the political process, lasting stability and peace, fight terrorism, ensure the security of Syria's borders and territorial integrity, and ensure the voluntary return of Syrian refugees from Turkey and neighboring countries alike.
The Turkish foreign minister pointed out that the ministerial meeting is a preparation for the meeting between the Turkish and Syrian presidents in the future.
"The four ministers may be working on preparations for a meeting between the leaders of Russia, Syria, Iran and Turkey," he said.
Previous efforts
Last week, Moscow hosted a meeting on Syria at the level of deputy foreign ministers of Turkey, Russia, Syria and Iran.
That meeting was preceded by a meeting in Moscow that brought together the defense ministers of Russia, Syria and Turkey last December, during which they discussed ways to resolve the Syrian crisis and joint efforts to combat terrorism.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said there were differences with the United States over its support for the Kurdish Units, Fethullah Gulen and sanctions on Ankara.
Turkey and Egypt
On the other hand, Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu touched in his remarks on Monday on Turkish-Egyptian relations, revealing an expected visit by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry to the Turkish capital Ankara this week.
Davutoglu added that it is possible to announce the route of the exchange of ambassadors during this visit, the details of which will be announced next Wednesday, stressing that "it is time to take concrete steps."
Cavusoglu visited Cairo last month, 10 years after severing diplomatic ties following the overthrow of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
Shoukry also visited Turkey two weeks ago to express Egypt's solidarity after the devastating earthquake and subsequent tremors that killed more than 50,<> people in southern Turkey and northern Syria.