Turkey, Russia and Iran hold talks in Antalya ahead of Syria summit

Top diplomats from Iran, Russia and Turkey met on Sunday morning in Antalya to discuss the civil war in Syria ahead of a three-way summit in the Russian city of Sochi on Wednesday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and Mohammad Javad Zarif of Iran in the southern Turkish city for the closed-door meeting.

“We discussed a series of topics that may arise in the meeting in Sochi, the point of this summit is to address what our success is in regards to Syria and what further measures we must take,” said Cavusoglu during a press conference after the meeting.

Moscow, Tehran and Ankara are sponsoring Astana peace talks, named for the Kazakh capital where they are regularly held, which calls for the creation of "de-escalation" zones in key areas of Syria.

The three countries, the guarantors of the deal, brokered a cease-fire in Syria in December 2016 to find a political solution to the conflict in the country.

"With the Astana process, we have come a long way with Russia, especially in terms of the establishment of peace on the field and forming de-escalation zones. The situation on the field is much better compared to last year,” Cavusoglu added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will host Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani for the Sochi summit, where talks on reducing violence and ensuring humanitarian aid are on the agenda.

The eighth round of Astana talks is expected to be held in the second half of December.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in Syria and 11 million displaced since the conflict began in March 2011 with protests against Bashar al Assad's regime.