Putin welcomes Erdogan to Moscow to discuss Syrian war

Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the Kremlin on Wednesday, where the pair were set to discuss the ongoing conflict in Syria, a country in which both nations have a military presence, albeit on opposing sides.

Putin and Erdogan met in the Russian capital ahead of bilateral talks in which strategies on how to bring peace to Syria, which has been embroiled in a bitter and complicated civil war since 2011, are set to take prime place at the top of the agenda, Efe reported.

“Turkey isn’t just fighting all forms of terrorism in Syria. We are also working for a political solution to the devastating crisis next door,” Fahretting Altun, a spokesperson for the Turkish presidency, wrote on Twitter ahead of the meeting.

“Syria’s territorial integrity and political stability are key priorities for Turkey. We will continue to work toward those goals,” he added.

Russia and Turkey form part of the so-called Astana Talks alongside Iran, which aim to implement a peace plan in Syria, working outside of the discussion being held at the UN.

Putin became involved in the war in Syria in 2015, when he moved to back Bashar al-Assad, the once-embattled president whose change of fortunes in the intervening years is widely put down to Moscow’s military might. Assad’s forces and their allies now control the vast majority of the country. (IANS)

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