A Turkish delegation is set to visit Moscow next week for technical talks over the situation in Syria, as well as normalizing ties between Ankara and Damascus, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Wednesday, ahead of a planned meeting between the foreign ministers of Türkiye, Russia, Syria and Iran later.

Çavuşoğlu said his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian wanted to join the talks between Türkiye, Syria and Russia, and Türkiye happily agreed.

"Iran is prepared to shoulder its role in order to smooth out differences of opinions between Damascus and Ankara as part of its regional cooperation efforts. Tehran says they are ready for a four-way summit between the sides," Çavuşoğlu told a joint news conference with Amirabdollahian in the capital Ankara.

"Astana is the only surviving format (to address) Syria anyway," Çavuşoğlu said, referring to the peace process launched in 2017 to establish a cease-fire and bring conflicts under control in the war-torn country. "Therefore, we told the Russians that there is nothing wrong with Iran's participation."

"Russia offered to host a preliminary meeting for the preparation of this four-way meeting," Çavuşoğlu noted, adding that the meeting will be held at the level of deputy ministers next week in Moscow.

Ankara is at odds with Moscow and Tehran over Syria where it has been both politically and militarily backing the opposition against Bashar Assad’s regime, which managed to turn the tide in its favor at one point in 2015 thanks to support from Russia and Iran.

However, recent meetings and mutual visits have pushed balances to a more positive direction.

On Dec. 28 last year, the Turkish, Russian and Syrian defense ministers met in Moscow to discuss counterterrorism efforts in Syria and agreed to continue the tripartite meetings to ensure stability in the war-torn country and the wider region.

Following December’s summit, Moscow, a vocal supporter of rapprochement between Damascus and Ankara, is aiming to facilitate meetings between the foreign ministers and eventually presidents.

Although no date or location have yet been announced, the foreign ministers' meeting would mark another high-level talk since the Syrian war began in 2011.

For his part, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, too expressed Iran’s support for a thaw in Türkiye and Syria ties. "Syria and Türkiye are two important nations in Western Asia and the Islamic Republic supports the return of relations between Ankara and Damascus to its normal status," Amirabdollahian said.

Raisi’s visit

Amirabdollahian and Çavuşoğlu also discussed putting Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s first official visit to Türkiye back on the agenda, which was postponed twice, once due to undisclosed reasons, and then owing to the earthquakes in Türkiye.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Iranian counterpart Raisi last met on the sidelines of the 22nd Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan last September where they discussed expediting the implementation of a series of pacts signed earlier in July 2022. It was Erdoğan’s first visit to Iran since the formation of a new government, which Raisi had hailed as "an important turning point" in improving cooperation.

"Raisi’s upcoming visit to Ankara too will start a new phase in bilateral relations," Amirabdollahian remarked.

"Çavuşoğlu and I made more progress than ever in boosting mutual trade volume. More than regional competition, Iran and Türkiye attach great importance to cooperation and the transport corridor between them. Water and environment are key matters for us," he noted.

Çavuşoğlu too thanked Tehran for sharing Türkiye's pain and rushing to help in the wake of the disaster.

Türkiye has been devastated by the biggest disaster in its modern history on Feb. 6 with magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 tremors that leveled thousands of buildings and killed over 46,000 people across 11 of its provinces. The tremors also rocked several neighboring countries in the region, with Syria taking the most extensive damage after Türkiye and reporting at least 5,800 deaths in its northwest.

Iran sent condolences, humanitarian aid, tents and food, as well as a 150-person search and rescue team to Türkiye that pulled 11 people out of the rubble in Gaziantep province.

Shared concerns

"I’m also planning to visit Iran in the upcoming period. There has been a drop in natural gas flowing into Türkiye in the last two months but now it is back to normal, which Türkiye welcomes. We want to increase our cooperation with Iran in the energy sector, as well," Çavuşoğlu said.

Pointing to various terrorist groups scattered across the Middle East, Çavuşoğlu said, "Terrorism is our shared problem, for Türkiye, Iraq and Iran. We need to be more diligent in the fight against terrorism."

"Türkiye’s security is Iran’s security," Amirabdollahian echoed, noting that terrorism originating in Iraq's Kurdistan, like the PKK/YPG and Daesh in Afghanistan form "our shared concerns."

"Türkiye and Iran enjoy high-level security cooperation against terrorism," Amirabdollahian added.

"Iran considers it a legitimate right that countries defend themselves in line with international law, no matter where terrorism emanates from. There is no good or bad terrorism," he stressed.

On the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Çavuşoğlu reiterated Ankara’s readiness to "continue doing everything it can to help stop the war."

Syrian aid

Çavuşoğlu further addressed the delivery of humanitarian aid through Türkiye’s border to Syria’s affected regions.

"Türkiye has done its best to ensure international help for Syria is delivered to the victims in need. Roads leading to the border to Syria were quickly repaired after they were damaged in the earthquakes and a total of 475 aid trucks crossed into Syria. The United Nations aid, too, continues without interruption," Çavuşoğlu assured.

"This was sometimes misinterpreted by some politicians in Türkiye as ‘borders are being flung open to let Syrians in.’ Sometimes even humanitarian issues are abused for political gain. The U.N.’s aid convoys from Türkiye to Syria have been ongoing since before the earthquakes," he concluded.