ANKARA (Dispatches) -- The presidents of Turkey, Iran and Russia said on Wednesday they were determined to speed up efforts to ensure "calm on the ground” in Syria, and to protect civilians in "de-escalation areas”, according to a joint statement.
The statement was posted on the website of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani after he met Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan at a summit in Ankara.
The presidents said it was important to prepare the ground for the return of Syrians displaced by conflict in their country.
The three men held talks ahead of a three-way summit with Russia on the Syrian conflict.
Iran, Russia and Turkey are working together to try to reduce the violence in Syria despite supporting opposing sides in the war. Russia and Iran are Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s strongest backers, while Turkey supports anti-Assad militants.
Rouhani said before leaving Iran that foreign forces operating in Syria without approval from the Damascus government should leave - a reference to Turkey and the United States.
Turkey is waging an offensive in northwestern Syria against the Kurdish YPG militia and has pledged to extend its campaign to the country’s northeast. Damascus has described the offensive as an illegal invasion.
"Iran believes that the presence of foreign forces in Syria without authorization of the Syrian government is illegal and must be halted,” state television quoted Rouhani as saying in Tehran on Tuesday night.
He said Wednesday’s meeting with Erdogan and Putin would discuss reconstruction in Syria as well as work on a new constitution, part of a plan for a political solution to end the war.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he wanted to get U.S. forces out of Syria but offered no timetable. "It’s time,” Trump told reporters, when asked if he was inclined to withdraw U.S. forces.
In their joint statement, Rouhani, Putin and Erdogan emphasized their "strong and continued commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity, territorial integrity and non-sectarian character of Syria”.
They also stressed that there could be "no military solution” to the Syrian conflict and that the conflict could be settled only through a "negotiated political process”.
The three countries further reaffirmed their determination to continue cooperation in order to ultimately eliminate Daesh, Nusra Front and all other individuals, groups, and entities associated with Al-Qaeda or Daesh.
They also expressed their satisfaction with the outcomes of the first year of the Astana meetings held since January 2017.
The Astana format, they said, had been the only effective international initiative that helped reduce violence across Syria, contributed to peace and stability in Syria, and gave impetus to the Geneva process in order to find a lasting political solution to the Syrian conflict.
The three presidents also said the Syrian National Dialogue Congress, which was convened in the Black Sea city of Sochi on January 30, 2018, constituted an important milestone in paving the way for the political process and reiterated their commitment to follow up on the results of the Congress.
Speaking at a news conference after talks with Erdogan and Putin, the Iranian president said developments in Syria showed that the United States had "failed to topple the Syrian government".
"They wanted to fuel insecurity in order to maintain their own interests but they have gained no success," he said. He added, however, that he believed U.S. forces would stay in Syria.
Rouhani said although Daesh, Al-Nusra and other terrorist groups had been hit hard and were on the brink of annihilation, some sides kept arming them and had enabled terrorists to continue their brutal actions against the Syrian people, including residents of Damascus.
The Iranian president denounced the continuing threat of foreign military action against the Syrian government and the ongoing outside pressure to stop crackdown on terrorist groups in Syria.
"Undoubtedly, part of the pressure on the Syrian people is the result of the performance of covetous Western governments, in particular the United States. So it is unfortunate to say that the lives, property, honor and existence of the Syrians are, in their view, an issue of value only when their interests are in danger,” he said.
"The US government must respond to this question as to what it is doing kilometers away from its land in Syria. On whose request American soldiers are invited to Syria? The illegal U.S. presence and military intervention in Syria are meant to increase tension and ultimately fragment the country,” he said.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Rouhani said that the Syrian region of Afrin, where the Turkish military has been engaged in a ground operation against U.S.-backed Kurdish militants, should be handed over to Syria's army.