The defence ministers of Turkey, Russia and Syria met in Moscow on Wednesday to discuss efforts to resolve the Syrian conflict and to combat "terrorism" in the country and region, in the first such meeting since 2011.

Russia and Turkey are both involved in Syria, with Moscow supporting the Damascus regime against its opponents and Ankara backing rebels.

Russian defence ministry released a statement after the meeting stating that Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and his Turkish and Syrian counterparts, Hulusi Akar and Ali Mahmoud Abbas, discussed "ways to resolve the Syrian crisis, the problem of refugees, and joint efforts to combat extremist groups in Syria".

The meeting was "constructive", the ministry stated, emphasising the need to "continue it in the interests of further stabilising the situation" in Syria and the wider region. The Turkish Defence Ministry also labelled the meeting as having a "constructive atmosphere", with the Syrian Defence Ministry calling it "positive."

On Saturday, Akar told reporters that Turkey was in talks with Russia about using Syrian airspace in a possible operation against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia.

"We are holding discussions with the Russians about the opening of the airspace" in Syria, he said.

The Turkish and Syrian foreign ministers had a brief informal exchange on the sidelines of a regional summit in 2021 and Ankara acknowledged contacts between the intelligence services of the two countries.

Russia has been mediating between Turkish forces and the Kurdish groups over the past month in an attempt to prevent a new Turkish intervention, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has suggested to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin the formation of a trilateral mechanism in which they can both work with the Syrian regime to accelerate diplomacy and combat terrorism – a term which still needs to be agreed on by all three, as Turkey views the Kurdish militias as terrorists while Syria and Russia view the Turkish-backed Syrian opposition groups as terrorists.

Image source: NDTV