Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, issued a joint statement at the end of the Ankara Summit and emphasised their strong and continued commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity, territorial integrity and non-sectarian character of Syria. They highlighted that none of the actions, no matter by whom they were undertaken, should undermine these principles, confirmed by relevant UN resolutions and by the will of the representatives of all segments of the Syrian society.
They rejected all attempts to create new realities on the ground under the pretext of combatting terrorism and expressed their determination to stand against separatist agendas aimed at undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria as well as the national security of neighbouring countries;
The joint statement also emphasised that the Astana format had been the only effective international initiative that had helped reduce violence across Syria and had contributed to peace and stability in Syria, giving impetus to the Geneva process in order to find a lasting political solution to the Syrian conflict.
Rouhani, Putin and Erdogan expressed their conviction that there could be no military solution to the Syrian conflict and that the conflict could be ended only through a negotiated political process;
the also reiterated the necessity to assist the Syrians in restoring the unity of their country and in achieving a political solution of the ongoing conflict through an inclusive, free, fair and transparent Syrian-led and Syrian-owned process based on the free will of the Syrian people and leading to a constitution enjoying the support of the Syrian people, and free and fair elections with the participation of all eligible Syrians under appropriate UN supervision.
The meeting in Ankara is the second summit between Erdogan, his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani and Russian President Vladimir Putin after a tripartite meeting in November 2017 in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.
The three powers have backed peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana which they argue are a parallel process to support U.N.-supported discussions in Geneva.
