Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks at a meeting with Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the Syrian Arab Republic Faisal Mekdad and Foreign Minister of the Republic of Türkiye Mevlut Cavusoglu, Moscow, May 10, 2023

Ministers, colleagues, friends,

I am delighted to meet with you. This meeting is an important result of multilateral efforts during the implementation of an initiative of our presidents to normalise relations between Türkiye and Syria. We have been moving towards today’s event for a long time but consistently.

We launched talks involving our military and special services, and they are making headway. On April 25, 2023, Moscow hosted the second meeting involving the defence ministers of Russia, Syria and Türkiye, as well as Iran, which also joined this format. Special services maintain useful contacts.

On April 4, 2023, Moscow hosted quadrilateral consultations at the level of deputy foreign ministers who prepared the meeting we are holding today. At last, we have managed to meet despite the packed schedule of every participant. I would like to thank my friends, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Faisal Mekdad and Mevlut Cavusoglu for accepting our invitation and arriving in the Russian capital.

In itself, the launch of the process of Türkiye-Syria normalisation involving all three countries that are guarantors of the Astana Format, proving its viability, exerts a noticeable positive influence not only on the situation around Syria but on the overall atmosphere throughout the Middle East. While paying tribute to an agreement on the normalisation of Saudi-Iranian relations, reached in Beijing on March 10, 2023, I would like to note that our efforts added momentum to the process of restoring ties between Damascus and its regional neighbours, including Arab states.

In the past 12 months, the Syrian Arab Republic has normalised its relations with most of them. As you know, on May 7, 2023, it was decided to invite Syria to resume its membership in the Arab League and to take part in the League’s summit, scheduled to be held in Saudi Arabia. I would like to note that Saudi Arabia also played a constructive and important role here.

In this situation, new prospects and opportunities are opening up before the Astana Format (that all of us value). I believe that we should take advantage of important advances made during earlier contacts in this format between our colleagues from the defence ministries and special services. We see our task in politically formalising progress that has been attained and in charting common guidelines for advancing our efforts.

An agreement to instruct experts to draft a roadmap for bringing the Syria-Türkiye relations back to normal so that we can review it at the next ministerial meeting could become an optimal outcome of our current conversation, unless you have any objections. We would subsequently present this roadmap to the heads of our states. We believe that this document contains a number of principles that, as we understand, are supported by all the parties to the quadrilateral format.

I am talking about our unwavering commitment to the sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence and unity of all countries involved in the meeting, as well as the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. All of us are interested in restoring neighbourly relations between Syria and Türkiye as soon as possible on an equitable and mutually beneficial basis. We are committed to close interaction for the sake of an leading an uncompromising struggle against all manifestations of terrorism and terrorist organisations, as well as to working together to counter separatist trends that, as all of us know, are incited from the outside. We assume that any gross interference in regional affairs, particularly using military force, as well as the deployment of foreign military contingents on Syrian territory, are unacceptable.

I cannot help but comment on information, received by us, that the United States is no longer content with supporting the self-proclaimed Kurdish authorities in the Trans-Euphrates region and supplying weapons to illegal paramilitary units, established by them. According to our sources, the Americans have started establishing the Free Syrian Army near Raqqa, Syria, with the involvement of representatives of local Arab tribes, as well as fighters from ISIS and other terrorist organisations. Their goal is obvious: They want to use these fighters against the legitimate authorities of the Syrian Arab Republic to destabilise the situation in the country. Our military colleagues recently discussed this issue, and they agreed on a concept of joint actions in this sphere. I hope that all the steps we have outlined will be implemented.

On numerous occasions, we have expressed our opposition to any unilateral sanctions that violate international humanitarian law and the UN Charter. We have called for preventing discrimination or subjecting to politicised preconditions the provision of humanitarian assistance to countries affected by armed conflicts and natural disasters, such as the earthquake of February 6, 2023, which caused massive loss of life and colossal destruction in Türkiye and Syria. It is quite telling that even this disaster did not prompt the United States and the European Union to show mercy. There has been no easing of the inhumane and illegal anti-Syrian sanctions. This year’s UN humanitarian plan for the Syrian Arab Republic has been funded at eight percent. But the same UN emergency appeal for assistance in the territories outside Damascus’ control was immediately “paid for” almost in full.

On June 15, 2023, the European Union will convene the latest Donors’ Conference for Syria. Syrians, representatives of the Syrian Arab Republic, are not invited as usual. Almost all the funds, at least the lion’s share, that will be raised will be spent, as in previous such cases, on refugee camps, that is, on keeping refugees outside Syria for as long as possible.

For all of the countries here, promoting the safe and voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced persons to their places of permanent residence in Syria and ensuring their right to be supported is a key principle. Each of these countries is launching one or more areas of work that could be recorded in the roadmap, which I have mentioned, listing the practical measures needed to develop solutions and defining indicative timeframes for their implementation. It should enable the positions of the negotiating parties (Syria and Türkiye) to be clearly outlined on the priority topics for them, which also implies solving the problems of restoring Syrian government control over the entire country and ensuring the security of Syria’s 950 km joint border with Türkiye, preventing cross-border attacks and terrorist infiltration and the activities of individuals or groups that aim to harm the neighbouring state. At the end of the 20th century, Damascus and Ankara, faced with similar problems, found a way to solve them. I think this experience will be quite useful for us today. It also seems important to start discussing the restoration of transport logistical links between the two neighbouring countries, which have been interrupted, and the resumption of trade and economic interaction without any barriers.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish our Turkish colleagues a successful general election. These elections, as I know, have already started outside the country. I am confident that they will be fair, transparent and will ensure that the will of the Turkish people is expressed without any external interference.

Türkiye is our good neighbour and an important partner. We see how much its international and regional authority has grown over the recent years. We are committed to further expanding and strengthening our bilateral cooperation with the Republic of Türkiye, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary. In this connection, I cannot but mention the unprecedented mutual support that Moscow and Ankara provided to each other in those already distant and complicated times, when the Republic of Türkiye was shaping its statehood while our country had to face the well-known developments on its territory.