Damascus Assad must engage with opposition, says Turkey

The crisis in Syria is the result of President Bashar al-Assad's refusal to engage in dialogue with the opposition, and not external interventions, the Turkish foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, said after meeting his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, for emergency talks in Ankara.

- Patrick Wintour

Araghchi by contrast blamed intervention by Israel for the crisis. But the two appeared to agree on the need to convene an urgent summit between Turkey, Iran and Russia, the three main external powers inside Syria.

These three powers have been meeting to discuss Syria's political future as part of the Astana process since January 2017. A total of 22 meetings have been held, but Turkey believes Syrian intransigence has led to a lack of progress.