Foreign ministers of Turkey, Russia and Iran will gather in Moscow Saturday to discuss the next steps in their trilateral cooperation on Syria, within the framework of the Astana mechanism.

In a statement yesterday, Turkish Foreign Ministry confirmed that Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and Iran's Javad Zarif will meet in Moscow on April 28.

"The meeting will focus on all aspects of the cooperation carried out within the framework of the Astana mechanism and elaborate on the steps that could be taken from now on," the statement said.

The Astana peace talks were launched on Jan. 23, 2017, with the aim of putting an end to the violence and improve the humanitarian situation in war-torn Syria.

Within the framework of these efforts, Turkey, Iran and Russia agreed to establish de-escalation zones in the northern Syrian province of Idlib and parts of neighboring Latakia, Hama and Aleppo.

Under the Astana agreement, Turkey is to gradually establish 12 observation points from Idlib's north to south to monitor and sustain the current cease-fire agreement for the de-escalation zones, deliver humanitarian aid and ensure the secure return of displaced people.

Kazakhstan hosted eight meetings attended by representatives from the guarantor states – Russia, Turkey, and Iran – that brokered a cease-fire in Syria in December 2016.

The officials from the trilateral entity have said that the Astana talks were not an alternative to the United Nations-brokered Geneva talks, but instead, they are complementary efforts to establish a solution to the crisis.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since 2011 when the Bashar Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity. Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced as a result of the conflict, according to the U.N.