Putin, Erdogan, Merkel and Macron met in Istanbul to discuss the future of Syria. The quadripartite meeting on the Syrian settlement was held in the main hall of the Vakhdetdin palace - the estate that belonged to the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed VI Vahiddin, and is now used as one of the offices of the Turkish President.
Before the consultations, the leaders held talks in a bilateral format. Putin met with Merkel and Erdogan. The Russian president talked to his French colleague by telephone before arriving at the summit, and also spoke with him after the meeting, discussing, among other things, preparations for Russian-American summit contacts in November.
Putin noted that before the Astana Model, which included Iran, there had been almost no contact between the major powers in such a format and thus the Syria summit was extensively needed by all sides of the spectrum; official government representatives and opposition members alike. Putin noted that even though the process did not go as fast as planned, these things cannot be rushed and need to ensure the best interests of Syria. Putin also mentioned that if Turkey cannot ensure the agreements about the disarming of the radicals in the DMZ, Russia would retain the right to step in and assist Syria to counter the terrorist threat.
