Turkish army chief meets counterparts in Russia

By Ali Cura

SOCHI, Russia (AA) - Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar met with his Russian and Iranian counterparts in Russia's coastal city of Sochi on Tuesday.

The meeting with Russia's Chief of General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov and Iranian Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri came ahead of Wednesday's trilateral summit on Syria with the participation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the parties discussed the current situation in Syria and steps to be taken in order to destroy terrorist groups, ensure the security of de-escalation zones, and facilitate transition to a political solution process in the war-torn country.

"The parties agreed to increase coordination in the de-escalation zone in Idlib, and completely eliminate the remaining members of Daesh and Al-Nusra terror organizations in Syria," read the statement.

On Wednesday, the presidents of the three guarantor countries will discuss the progress on reducing violence in Syria and de-escalation zones, which were established after the Astana talks.

Turkey and Russia, together with Iran, are the guarantor countries which brokered a cease-fire in Syria in December 2016, leading to the Astana, Kazakhstan talks, which ran parallel to UN-backed discussions in Geneva to find a political solution to the six-year war.