Your trusted source

The presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran adopted a joint statement following their trilateral summit in Russia’s Black Sea resort city of Sochi to reaffirm their commitment to sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria, TASS reports.

The three-page 17-point document sums up the developments which took place in Syria since the three leaders' previous meeting in Tehran in September 2018. The sides stressed their determination to intensify trilateral coordination in line with the existing agreements and reaffirmed their "firm and unchanged commitment to sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic", as well as to goals and principles enshrined in the UN Charter.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said those principles must be observed by all nations, and no one must be allowed to erode them.

The three nations also "reject all attempts to create new order of things ‘on the ground’ under the guise of fighting against terrorism." Therefore, they express their readiness to counter separatist plans intended to undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria, as well as the national security of the neighboring states.

In this respect, the US government’s decision to withdraw its forces from Syria will be a step toward increasing stability and security in the country, the document reads.