Turkey, Russia, Iran vow to back Syria's sovereignty

Turkey, Russia and Iran have reiterated their support for Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

"The heads of state reaffirmed their strong commitment to sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic," according to a joint statement released following a trilateral meeting between the presidents of the three countries Wednesday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and Iran's Hassan Rouhani met in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi to discuss progress in the Astana peace talks as well as changes in de-escalation zones across Syria.

The zones were established to reinforce a cease-fire introduced by the three guarantor states in December last year.

According to the statement, Erdogan, Putin and Rouhani expressed support for a broad intra-Syrian dialogue involving representatives of all segments of Syria.

The presidents called on “the representatives of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic and the opposition that are committed to the sovereignty, independence, unity, territorial integrity and non-fractional character of Syrian state to participate constructively in the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi in the near future", it added.