Putin, Erdogan Talk Syria, Astana Peace Process

Presidents assessed the joint work within the Syrian peace talks, hosted in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan have discussed the Syrian peace process in a phone call, the Kremlin said Saturday.

"During a detailed opinion exchange on Syria, [they] assessed as positive the joint work within the Astana process, which has led to the creation of de-escalation zones in Syria," the statement read.

The presidents discussed the outlook for the next multilateral talks on Syria in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana and "touched upon practical aspects of further coordination of efforts" to end the war in Syria.

The Kazakh capital has hosted six rounds of talks on Syria since this January that involved both the government and armed opposition. The Kazakh foreign ministry said last week the next round was slated for October 30-31.

The latest negotiations in September have led to an agreement to create a so-called de-escalation zone in the northern Syrian province of Idlib. Russia, Turkey and Iran serve as guarantor states of the ceasefire.