Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday evaluated peace efforts for Syria in coordination with Russia and Iran on the sidelines of the trilateral summit currently being held in the Russian resort town of Sochi.
“Turkey has stood by the Syrian people in their most difficult of times. We have provided $35 billion dollars in aid to Syrian refugees. We have done all we could for peace to prevail in Syria, and will continue to do so,” he said.
“As we strive to prevent blood from being shed, others are making efforts for it to be spilt,” Erdoğan added.
Erdoğan, Russian President Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani first met in Sochi in 2017.
Turkey and Russia, together with Iran, are the guarantor countries which brokered a cease-fire in Syria in December 2016, leading to the Astana talks, which are running parallel to the Geneva talks.
Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others were displaced, according to UN officials.
