TEHRAN – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Iran, Russia and Turkey play a constructive role in settling crisis in Syria.

The Syrian constitutional committee that was formed upon efforts by Russia, Iran and Turkey will help resolve the Syria crisis, ISNA quoted Putin as saying in a joint press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres announced the formation of the constitutional committee on September 23.

The Syrian constitutional committee met on Wednesday for the first time under UN auspices to chart a political settlement to end the eight-and-a-half-year civil war.

The meeting in Geneva is being overseen by the UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pederson.

The first meeting the committee, composed of government and opposition members as well as civil society, is a step forward in what the United Nations says will be a long road to political rapprochement.

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Sergey Lavrov, and Mevlut Cavusoglu, respectively the foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey, issued a joint statement on Tuesday reaffirming commitment to Syria’s territorial integrity and supporting the work of the constitutional committee.

The statement was issued after a trilateral meeting with Pedersen in Geneva.

“Welcomed the formation the Constitutional Committee and its convening in Geneva on 30 October 2019 as a result of the decisive contribution of the Astana guarantors and the implementation of the decisions of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi and appreciated in this regard the efforts of the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Syria,” the statement said.

The sides also “reaffirmed their determination to support the work of the Constitutional Committee through continuous interaction with the Syrian parties and the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria in order to ensure its sustainable and effective work.”

In a joint press conference with Lavrov and Cavusoglu, Zarif said foreigners must not interfere in the work of the constitutional committee.

President Hassan Rouhani, the Russian president and Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, met in September to discuss the Syrian conflict.

Talking before the meeting of the three presidents, Rouhani said cooperation among Iran, Russia, and Turkey, as the three guarantor states of the ceasefire regime in Syria, has promoted security in the war-ravaged country.

Putin said in August that Iran-Turkey-Russia talks have been “most effective” in tackling the crisis in Syria.

According to Sputnik, in a meeting with Erdogan at Russia’s MAKS-2019 air show, Putin praised the results, achieved by the Astana format, which includes Russia, Turkey, and Iran, calling it the “most effective mechanism” in resolving the Syrian crisis.

The Astana peace talks were launched on Jan. 23-24, 2017 with the aim of putting an end to the Syrian conflict.

NA/PA