The leaders of Turkey, Russia and Iran announced Monday that an agreement has been finally reached on the composition of a committee tasked with rewriting Syria's constitution as part of a political solution to the country's civil war, now in its ninth year.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told journalists at the end of the meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin and Iran's Hassan Rouhani in the Turkish capital Ankara that differences on one last committee member has been overcome, paving the way for the committee to start working as soon as possible.
"We portrayed a constructive and flexible attitude to determine constitutional committee members and rules of procedure. We made an effort for the political process to move forward. In short, hitches regarding the establishment of the committee were eliminated by our mutual efforts," Erdogan said.
The leaders did not provide a timeframe for the committee set to be made up of Syrian government and opposition figures to begin its proceedings. The procedural rules still have to be worked out, Putin told reporters.
"The proceedings must begin rapidly," Putin said.
"Extremist groups may try and destroy this process because they do not want a final agreement since they gain money from war."
"We cannot stand by and watch a new tragedy that would affect 4 million people right next to our border," Erdogan said, adding: "Such a calamitous development would not only affect our country but also all of Europe."
The statement said the sides had agreed to take concrete steps to reduce violations."