Turkish troops withdrawal requires Syria's political steps

"Steps must be taken in the political process for our troops to leave. If there are voids, terrorist organizations should not fill them," Cavusoglu said as quoted by a local newspaper.

Earlier in the day, the Syrian media reported citing sources that Ankara had agreed to withdraw its troops from Syrian territory after the defense ministers of Turkey, Syria and Russia met in Moscow on December 28.

On December 15, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he had offered to Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold a meeting between the leaders of Turkey, Russia and Syria, which would be preceded by a meeting of the heads of the intelligence services, defense and foreign ministries. On December 28, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the defense ministers of Russia, Syria and Turkey held trilateral talks in Moscow to discuss ways to resolve the Syrian crisis. The talks marked the first official meeting between Ankara and Damascus in 11 years.

Also, Ankara has proposed to hold a meeting of Turkish and Syrian foreign ministers in the second half of January, possibly in a third country, Cavusoglu said on Saturday.

"We said let's do it in the second half of January. The meeting could take place in a third country," Cavusoglu said answering the question about the possible foreign ministers meeting, as quoted by a local broadcaster.

Cavusoglu also said he plans to discuss the possibility of a top-level meeting with his Syrian counterpart at an upcoming meeting.

"First we met on a technical level, then on a military level, and now on a political level. We will work on whether it will be at a higher level in the future or not," Cavusoglu added.

MNA/PR