Russia, Turkey, Iran launch joint effort to revive political process in Syria

Russia, Turkey and Iran have agreed to coordinate on reviving the political process in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.

"We express readiness to facilitate the elaboration of an agreement drafted between the Syrian government and the opposition and to become its guarantors," Lavrov told a press conference after talks with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts in Moscow.

Tuesday's meeting came following the assassination of Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov in a shooting in the Turkish capital of Ankara on late Monday.

The three sides agreed on the importance of expanding the ceasefire regime across Syria, as well as an unimpeded access of humanitarian aid and free movement of the civilian population across the Mideast country.

Lavrov said that they viewed the trilateral format of cooperation as the "most effective" for resolving the deadlock to reach a settlement in Syria on the basis of a United Nations Security Council resolution.

But he added that this format was not meant to cast a shadow on the efforts of other partners to achieve progress in resolving the Syrian crisis.

According to Lavrov, Russia, Turkey and Iran had adopted a joint statement on coordinated actions, which reaffirmed the respect to sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Syria as a multi-ethnic, democratic and secular state.

He added that their format is open for other countries interested in their joint efforts. Endi