Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is scheduled to hold talks on Monday with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, in Ankara on the situation in Syria’s Idlib province.
The visit comes in light of the recent escalation and the violation of the ceasefire agreement that was reached between Turkey and Russia on March 5.
Turkish diplomatic sources said that the talks would also touch on Syria’s political process.
On Sunday, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said Zarif would be in Istanbul on June 14-15.
“During the visit, all aspects of our bilateral relations will be discussed and views on regional and international issues will be exchanged,” the ministry added.
The diplomatic sources had announced that Zarif’s visit to Istanbul would coincide with the trip of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu, who had been due in Turkey on Sunday for talks.
However, the visit was adjourned.
Observers had predicted that the presence of the Iranian and Russian ministers in the Turkish city would facilitate a Turkish-Russian-Iranian meeting on Syria.
Yet, the plan changed when the Turkish foreign ministry on Sunday announced that the visit of Russian foreign and defense ministers was postponed to a later date.
The ministerial meeting between the Russian and the Turkish sides was part of a consensus reached by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to discuss Libya’s war.
Last week, Cavusoglu said it is important that the ceasefire in Idlib continues. “We are working on it.”
In the past few days, Idlib witnessed several attacks launched by the Syrian regime and its loyal militias, particularly in Jabal al-Zawiya, south of the province.
For the first time since the signing of the ceasefire agreement in March, Russian warplanes pounded Idlib after the deployment of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham members in the area.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Russian jets launched four airstrikes at the outskirts of Al-Bara and Harsh Kafranbel in the area of Jabal al-Zawiya in the southern countryside of Idlib.
It said Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham evacuated its members from all its checkpoints on Aleppo-Latakia international highway (M4), from Ariha to Muhambel in the western countryside of Idlib.
For its part, Ankara enhanced its observation posts in the de-escalation zone and established two new posts in Jabal al-Zawiya.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
