Iran, Turkey Discuss Idlib Agreement

Mohammad Javad Zarif and Mevlut Cavusoglu held talks on Tuesday on provisions of Idlib deal, achieved in negotiations held in Ankara, Tehran and Sochi.

The two sides also agreed to follow up provisions of the deal in the upcoming session of trilateral meeting of foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey and Russia in New York.

In relevant remarks on Tuesday, Zarif said that cooperation between Tehran, Ankara and Moscow is yielding positive results to prevent a war in Idlib, meantime, stressing determination to continue fight against terrorism.

"Intensive responsible diplomacy over the last few weeks - pursued in my visits to Ankara and Damascus, followed by the Iran-Russia-Turkey Summit in Tehran and the meeting in Sochi - is succeeding in averting the war in Idlib with a firm commitment to fight extremist terror," Zarif wrote on his twitter page.

He underlined that the developments showed that "diplomacy works".

The Iranian foreign ministry had on Monday dismissed speculations that the country's military troops would participate in the Syrian army's military operations against the terrorists in Idlib, and said Iran will only have advisors in the war torn state.

"Iran's policy is supporting Syria's territorial integrity and we hope that the country will be purged of terrorists soon," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi told reporters in Tehran.

He underlined the necessity for considering humanitarian issues in military operations against the terrorists in Idlib, and said, "We insist that the problems in Idlib will be resolved in a way that no damage and harms will be inflicted on the people and we have discussed this issue in contacts with Russia and Turkey."

Qassemi dismissed any possibility for the partnership of Iranian soldiers in the military operations in Syria, and said, "We have declared many times that we play an advisory role in Syria."

In relevant remarks earlier this month, Zarif announced that the Syrian army and its allies would make their utmost efforts to reduce harms to civilians during the imminent military operations against the terrorist groups in Idlib.

"Given the fact that we will have the summit of leaders of Astana talks (in Tehran) on Friday and the conditions in Idlib are sensitive, we are trying to have the situation in Idlib and expulsion of terrorists from Idlib done with the least humanitarian costs. We had talks in Turkey to this end and we also held talks in Syria with the high-ranking Syrian officials," Zarif told reporters in Tehran before the trilateral meeting between the Iranian, Russian and Turkish presidents in Tehran on September 7.

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