Turkish president to visit Russia on Wednesday

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pay a visit to Russia’s coastal city of Sochi on Wednesday, the Turkish presidency said on Tuesday.

"During the visit in Sochi, a trilateral summit on Syria will be held with the participation of Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani," the presidency said in a statement.

It added the leaders will discuss the progress on reducing violence in Syria and de-escalation zones, which were established after the Astana talks.

They will also handle the delivery of humanitarian aid to Syria and possible contributions to the Geneva process towards a political solution in the country under the UN Security Council Resolution 2254.

The resolution adopted in December 2015 endorsed a for process in Syria.

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.

The meeting would also bring together Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar, Russia's Chief of General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov and their Iranian counterpart Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri.