Istanbul: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s agenda for Thursday does not include a meeting with the Russian and US delegations that are holding talks in Istanbul, the president’s office told RIA Novosti. “There is no such meeting in the program of the president,” the office said.
According to Namibia Press Agency, the Turkish leadership does not meddle in the negotiation process between Russia and the United States in Turkey, yet it expects that the meeting will bring results, a spokesperson for Erdogan’s office told RIA Novosti. “We are not getting involved in the process; you should find out the details from the negotiating parties themselves. We only expect that these negotiations in Turkey will bring some concrete results both for the parties as well as for the region,” the spokesperson said.
The talks are started as scheduled at 10:00 a.m. local time (07:00 GMT). The meeting is being held at the Russian Consulate General in Istanbul. Russia is represented by Ambassador to the United States Alexander Darchiev and the US is represented by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Sonata Coulter.