Turkey to host Syria summit
Top political leaders from Turkey, France, Russia and Germany are set to meet here later this month in a bid to find a solution to the seven-year conflict in Syria, it was announced in Istanbul on Friday.
In a statement, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said that the presidents of these four countries will take part in the summit scheduled for October 27, a news report said.
"The summit will aim to address the Syrian conflict with all its aspects, focusing on the situation on the ground, the Idlib agreement, the political process and to harmonize joint efforts for finding a lasting solution to the conflict," state-owned news agency Anadolu cited Kalin as saying.
Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Turkey recently struck a deal for a buffer zone in the last rebel stronghold of Idlib, putting on hold an all-out offensive by the Syrian government and its allies.
During Erdogan's visit to Berlin in late September, Merkel said preparations were underway for the upcoming international conference that would focus on the critical situation in Idlib.
Over the past few years, thousands of rebels have been evacuated from different parts of Syria to Idlib under agreements with the government.
It also has a population of three million civilians, including a large number of people internally displaced by the seven-year conflict.
