Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's welcome address before the beginning of four-party consultations at the level of deputy foreign ministers of Russia, Iran, Syria and Türkiye, Moscow, April 4, 2023
4 April 2023 16:35
620-04-04-2023
Colleagues,
I am delighted to welcome you to Moscow. This is an important new format.
The peoples of Türkiye and Syria are bound by centuries of common history, the chapters of which are filled with events that instill pride in the hearts of the Turks, Arabs and Kurds. Religious and cultural commonality, as well as geographical proximity, makes mutually beneficial and neighbourly cooperation between Türkiye and Syria the only choice available. The disagreement between these countries does not meet the aspirations of anyone in that region or beyond who sincerely wish the Middle East peace, calm and prosperity. It is no coincidence that Russia and Iran, which maintain good relations with Syria and Türkiye, are acting today not just as mediators, but as interested parties to a multi-tier negotiating process that is aimed at the comprehensive normalisation of relations between Ankara and Damascus.
Our reaction to the corresponding initiative advanced by President of the Republic of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan was constructive and prompt. The first meeting of the defence ministers of Russia, Syria and Türkiye was held in Moscow with the participation of the heads of special services as early as December 28, 2022. Building on our Iranian colleagues' completely justified desire to join this process, we are launching a parallel foreign policy track today in a four-way format, which now includes the Astana process guarantor states and the Syrian Arab Republic.
We are deeply convinced that the Astana platform, which we all worked hard to create, has a bright future. Prospects are opening up for upgrading this platform, which has proved its value, from a military-political stabilisation mechanism to an effective regional cooperation tool, especially so given our countries' potential and high demand for the efforts to promote post-conflict reconstruction of Syria and to create material prerequisites for millions of Syrian refugees, most of whom found safe haven in neighbouring Türkiye, to return home.
I would like to address the Turkish and Syrian participants in the talks separately. We expect you to be as flexible and constructive as possible. Confrontational rhetoric and memories of bygone grievances are best left at the door of the negotiating room. I sincerely urge you to conduct discussions based on a clear and straightforward principle of mutual respect for the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Syria and Türkiye, and be guided by the desire to quickly overcome the existing issues and to restore neighbourly relations.
Historical experience, including Ukraine, shows that sovereignty is strengthened by promoting relations with neighbours and is weakened, or even disappears, in a situation where, as a rule, not without external influence, barriers are artificially erected on the path of traditional mutually beneficial cooperation and provocative threats to the security of neighbouring countries are being created.
Clearly, these issues cannot be resolved in two or three meetings. As we say, in one sitting. The normalisation process will take time. But, as our wise Chinese friends say, a long journey begins with one small step. The main thing is to look for common ground, to strike a balance of interests and to avoid preconditions, all the more so as numerous parties involved in this conflict for many years have multiple mutual grievances.
I'm aware that you have on the table texts submitted by individual delegations. I am confident that these proposals can be used to arrive at a collective position.
We will partner up with our Iranian colleagues and do our best to provide proper conditions for your productive work.
I wish you and all of us success. I look forward to you agreeing on a date for a ministerial meeting in Moscow with my friends and counterparts Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Mevlut Cavusoglu, and Fayssal Mikdad. We have come up with some dates that you might agree upon during your negotiating round.
I sincerely wish you success in reaching generally acceptable agreements.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
