Moscow to host quadruple meeting in April

ALBAWABA - The deputy foreign ministers of Syria, Turkey, Iran and Russia are slated to meet in Moscow in April after the quadruple meeting, which was originally scheduled for March, was postponed.

The quadruple meeting, which was scheduled to take place this month, was postponed, after Syrian President Bashar Assad ruled out any meeting with his Turkish counterpart until Turkey show its willingness to withdraw its forces from northern Syria.

However, Reuters news agency recently quoted Iranian and Turkish officials as saying that the meeting will be held in Moscow in April, where the situation in Syria will be discussed.

The actual date for the meeting was disclosed, but it is said that it will take place in the first week of next month.

For his turn, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov suggested that a quartet meeting of deputy foreign ministers, Russia, Turkey, Syria and Iran, be held in the Russian capital, Moscow, in early April.

Recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed, in a phone call, the situation in Syria, and the importance of continuing the normalization of relations between Ankara and Damascus was stressed.

Syrian President stipulated that Turkey withdraws its forces from northern Syria as a requisite for meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Russian media quoted Assad in Mid-March as saying that his meeting with his Turkish counterpart is linked to reaching a stage in which Turkey is "clearly ready for a complete exit from Syrian territory."

Assad said that Turkey should stop what he called "supporting terrorism."

Assad asserted that Turkey's withdrawal of its forces from northern Syria "is the only case in which there can be a meeting between me and Erdogan."

The Syrian President's statements were published the day after his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.