ANKARA, Dec 31 Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Ankara offered to hold a meeting of the Turkish and Syrian Foreign Ministers in the second half of January, possibly in a third country.
«We said that let's do it in the second half of January. The meeting could take place in a third country,» Cavusoglu quoted TV channel NTV.
According to TV channel Habertürk, saying that it is not yet clear where the meeting will take place, Cavusoglu said, «it could be Moscow or a third country.»
Earlier, the Syrian newspaper Al-Watan, citing sources in Damascus said Ankara agreed after the meeting of the defense ministers of Turkey, Syria and Russia in Moscow to the withdrawal of its troops from Syrian territory.
The defense ministers of Russia, Syria and Turkey held trilateral talks in Moscow this week, discussing ways to resolve the Syrian crisis, the Russian Defense Ministry said earlier. The ministry clarified that «following the meeting, the parties noted the constructive nature of the dialogue held in this format and the need to continue it in the interests of further stabilizing the situation in the Arab Republic and the region as a whole.» The talks between the heads of military departments in Moscow were the first official talks between Ankara and Damascus in 11 years, the Hürriyet newspaper noted.