MOSCOW (Dispatches) -- The foreign ministers of Turkey, Syria, Russia and Iran met in Moscow on Wednesday, in the highest-level negotiations so far on rebuilding ties between Ankara and Damascus after years of animosity during the war on Syria.
In his opening speech, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed hope that the meeting would pave the way to drafting a road map for normalizing Turkish-Syrian relations. Lavrov said he sees Moscow’s task as “not only in consolidating politically the progress that has been made, but also in determining general guidelines for further movement.”
Syrian state media quoted Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad as saying during Wednesday’s meeting that Syria and Turkey “share goals and common interests.” He said that “despite all the negatives over the past years,” Damascus saw the talks as an opportunity “for both governments to cooperate with the help and support of our friends Russia and Iran.”
Yet Mekdad added that the Syrian government’s “main goal” was to end all “illegal” military presences in the country, including that of Turkish forces.
“We will continue to demand and insist on the subject of withdrawal,” he was quoted as saying.
Following a deadly earthquake in February that killed tens of thousands of people in Syria and Turkey, regional normalization with Damascus began to accelerate. In April, Moscow hosted the defense ministers of Turkey, Syria and Iran for talks that it said focused on “practical steps to strengthen security in the Syrian Arab Republic and to normalize Syrian-Turkish relations.”
In a tweet, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he stressed during the meeting the need for “cooperation in the fight against terrorism and working together to establish the basis for the return of Syrians.”
Turkey is hosting more than 3.5 million refugees from neighboring Syria.
Cavusoglu also said “taking the political process in Syria forward and protection of Syria’s territorial integrity,” were the other issues discussed.
NATO member Turkey has backed political and armed opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the 12-year war, and sent its own troops into the country’s north.
Syria’s northwest includes a sliver of territory held by rival militants, including hardline armed groups and takfiri factions backed by Turkey.
It was not immediately clear if the meeting produced any concrete outcomes.
Syrian and Turkish defense ministers had held talks in Moscow in December.
Moscow is Assad’s main ally and

Russia has encouraged reconciliation with Ankara. But Damascus demands full withdrawal of Turkish troops for relations to be restored.
Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian said Iran is ready to help promote negotiations between Syria and Turkey toward their reconciliation.
The ministry also said any political solution for issues related to Syria must take into consideration Syria’s full sovereignty over its territory, adding that Turkey can play a key role in this regard.
He said Syria’s neighbors, especially Turkey, can cooperate with the Arab country so that it would be able to gain full control over its national sovereignty “because it will be in favor of Syria’s stability and security and is also in line with security and border stability of the neighboring countries.”
The top Iranian diplomat added that the deployment of the Syrian army on the borders and the establishment of security in cooperation with the neighbors can allay the security concerns of Ankara and other neighboring countries and prevent the activities of terrorists and separatists.
It could also restore the neighborly and strategic relations between the two sides and prepare the ground for the withdrawal of the Turkish military forces from joint border areas with Syria based on a mutually-agreed timetable, he noted.
“We believe that a strong and independent Syria will be able to overcome terrorism, separatism, and the U.S. forces’ occupation and plunder of the country’s national resources,” Amir-Abdollahian added.
Amir-Abdollahian pointed to the current “special and unique” situation in international relations and said, “All indications and variables testify to the transition process in the world order, the decline of the U.S. power, and the strengthening of regionalism.”