The leaders of Russia, France and Germany arrived in Istanbul on Saturday for a four-nation summit aiming to focus on the crisis in Syria.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is hosting Russia’s Vladimir Putin, France’s Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel for talks on the conflict.

Turkey and Russia have held previous talks with Iran on the Syrian conflict in efforts, but Saturday’s summit will be the first to include the European Union’s two most significant national leaders.

Erdogan met briefly with Merkel before the summit, which was set to start around 3:00 pm (1200 GMT), with the four leaders expected to issue a joint statement ahead of individual press conferences.

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Friday that the primary goal would be to “clarify the steps to be taken for a political solution and to determine a roadmap”.

Forming a commission to create Syria’s post-war constitution, seen as a stepping stone to elections in the war-torn country, would be a particular point of emphasis, Kalin told the state-run news agency Anadolu.

Source: AFP