Turkish, Iranian, Russian foreign ministers meet in New York

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - An Astana format meeting on Syria between the foreign ministers of Türkiye, Iran and Russia was held Wednesday in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

The meeting was attended by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and took place at the Turkevi Center, or Turkish House, near the UN headquarters.

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen also attended the meeting, according to the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

While no additional information was released on the meeting, Cavusoglu said on Twitter that they are continuing "diplomatic efforts to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis."

The Astana Process was launched in 2017 in a bid to restore peace and stability in the Arab country, which has been ravaged by war since 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protesters.

On July 19, a trilateral meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was held in Iran's capital Tehran.

The leaders gathered for the 7th summit in the Astana format to discuss recent developments in Syria; the fight against terrorist groups, which pose a threat to regional security, particularly the YPG/PKK and Daesh/ISIS; the humanitarian situation; and the voluntary return of Syrians.