The presidents of Turkey, Russia and Iran met in Ankara on Wednesday to reaffirm their commitment to working together to reach a “lasting ceasefire” in Syria.
The meeting in Ankara between Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Iran’s Hassan Rouhani, was the second such tripartite summit after the first hosted by Putin in November in the Black Sea city of Sochi.
However there was no major breakthrough announced after the summit meeting, and comments by the trio indicated possible tensions in what analysts see as a potentially brittle alliance.
The three powers have backed peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana, which they argue are a parallel process to UN-supported discussions in Geneva.
Erdogan insisted their meetings and the Astana talks were not an "alternative" to the Geneva process to find peace in Syria, at a post-summit press conference.
The three leaders called in a statement on Wednesday for bigger humanitarian aid supplies, as well as assistance in clearing land mines and aid to help restore Syria’s destroyed infrastructure.
They "rejected all attempts to create new realities on the ground under the pretext of combating terrorism."
They reaffirmed their commitment to working toward achieving ceasefires between conflicting parties in Syria and emphasized commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria.
The statement said the countries reaffirmed determination to continue cooperation " in order to ultimately eliminate" the ISIS group and other groups.
Erdogan pointed at the EU's failure to deliver 3 billion euros in assistance he said it promised for helping restore Syria's north. He added that Turkey will continue to invest its own funds in rebuilding Syria.
Putin also issued a strong call on other nations to participate more actively in Syria's reconstruction.
