Lavrov discussed the settlement in Syria with the Turkish Foreign Minister

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu discussed by phone the settlement of the Syrian crisis and cooperation plans for the next year, reported on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

“The ministers exchanged New Year greetings and discussed plans for cooperation between the foreign ministries for 2023, including further coordination of steps to promote the Syrian settlement,” the message says.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has not yet commented on the conversation.

Earlier, the Syrian newspaper Al-Watan reported that Ankara agreed to withdraw troops from the north of Syria after a trilateral meeting of the heads of the ministries of defense of Russia, Syria and Turkey. This meeting took place On December 28 in Moscow, at the same time, negotiations were held between the heads of intelligence of these countries. The Russian Defense Ministry called the meeting constructive and stressed the need for further interaction in this format for the Syrian settlement.

The press service of the Turkish Defense Ministry reported on its website that the meeting discussed “the Syrian crisis, the problem of refugees and joint efforts to combat all terrorist organizations in Syria.” Ankara also considers the formation of the Syrian Kurds SDF / YPG, which, in its opinion, are associated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), recognized as terrorist in Turkey, as a terrorist organization. Since mid-November, the Turkish Air Force has been conducting airstrikes on targets in territories controlled by the Syrian Kurds.

In 2019, Russia and Turkey agreed on the withdrawal of Kurdish formations from the border areas, as well as joint patrols in this zone. The areas adjacent to the zone inhabited by Kurds de jure came under the control of the Moscow-allied Syrian government in Damascus, in a number of important points for the first time since 2012, units of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) appeared, but in fact control over the situation has since been carried out by the military police of Russia.