Astana

A tripartite summit on Syria began on Wednesday in the capital Ankara with the participation of Turkish, Russian and Iranian presidents, Anadolu Agency reported.

The first tripartite summit was held in the Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi on Nov. 22, 2017 to discuss progress made in the Astana peace talks and changes in de-escalation zones across Syria.

After finalizing the establishment of observer points in Syria’s Idlib province as part of the Astana process for de-escalation zones, the Turkish army could head to the Manbij region, which is under the control of the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on March 16.

The upcoming Turkey-European Union (EU) summit in Bulgaria is a "very important step" in resolving issues between the EU and Turkey, according to a senior EU official on Wednesday.

The remarks came ahead of a key EU-Turkey summit set for March 26 in Varna, Bulgaria -- the current EU term president - that would bring together EU leaders and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

A preliminary tripartite meeting among the foreign ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey is expected to be held in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, next week to discuss the deteriorating situation in Syria, as well as to set the agenda for a summit on Syria by leaders of the three countries in April, radio Voice of America reports. 

Stanimir Stoilov will be the new coach of Kazakhstan. The news that was expected in recent weeks was announced by sports.kz. The appointment of the Bulgarian specialist is expected to become official soon.

The three guarantors of the Astana process, namely Russia, Iran and Turkey, must meet urgently to re-install the de-escalation zones in Syria, the UN has said.

The foreign ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey plan to meet next month to discuss the situation in Syria, Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov said on Tuesday, quoted by Reuters. 

The Turkish, Russian, and Iranian ministers will again come together to discuss Syria at a meeting in the Kazakh capital Astana in March, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mihail Bogdanov said on Feb. 12. 

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Monday that Russia, Turkey and Iran had discussed a possible meeting of their foreign ministers on Syria, which could be held in Kazakhstan's Astana in March, the TASS news agency reported.

Bogdanov also warned against escalation in the Middle East after Israeli strikes on Syria, the RIA news agency said.

A convoy of Turkish Armed Forces on Feb. 5 moved to the fourth observation point in Syria’s Idlib, the establishment of which accords with the Astana agreement.