TODAY’S ZAMAN, October 19, 2015 – US Secretary of State John Kerry said he would be meeting with the foreign ministers of Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Russia in Europe this week to discuss the crisis in Syria and the need for a political transition to end the conflict.
“This is a human catastrophe unfolding before our eyes and it is a catastrophe that now threatens the integrity of a whole group of countries throughout the region,” he said.
Russia is always in favor of talks in any format, the speaker of Russia’s upper house of parliament said on Monday, in reply to a question about a US plan for a meeting on Syria involving Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Jordan.
“We are always for talks in any format and we believe that talks are very important for trust and confidence building, and finding compromise,” Valentina Matviyenko told a news conference in Geneva.
Earlier, a source in Russia’s foreign ministry told the Interfax news agency that Russia was considering the proposal from Secretary of State Kerry.
While international efforts faced significant setbacks after Russian air strikes in Syria blunted diplomatic initiatives, Turkey and Russia have stepped up its dialogue over the Syrian crisis.
Russian violations of Turkish air space have highlighted the need for cooperation to avoid unnecessary incidents. Turkish Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Ümit Yalçın recently held a meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mihail Bogdanov in İstanbul.
Both diplomats discussed the recent situation in Syria and whether Turkey and Russia could bridge their differences over how to solve the protracted conflict that has so far killed a quarter of a million people and internally displaced nearly 11 million people, while sending 4 million as refugees to neighboring countries.