Turkey, Russia and Iran foreign ministers meet for Syria talks

Iran, Russia and Turkey foreign minister have met to prepare for a controversial summit on Syria due to take place in Sochi on Wednesday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and Mohammed Javad Zarif of Iran in Antalya in southern Turkey on Sunday morning, an official said. 

He declined to provide further details on the meeting, which comes as large-scale battles between regime and rebel foeces in Syria begin to lesses, despite a political solution still out of reach.

Moscow, Tehran and Ankara are sponsoring the so-called Astana peace talks - named for the Kazakh capital where they are regularly held - which saw the creation of so-called "de-escalation zones" in key areas of Syria.

Although Turkey has supported rebels looking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad's government, its verbal attacks on the Syrian regime - which is backed by Russia and Iran - have recently become more muted.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will host Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran's Hassan Rouhani for the Sochi summit, where talks on reducing violence and ensuring humanitarian aid are on the agenda.

According to the Anadolu news agency, Putin and Erdogan have already met five times this year and spoken by telephone 13 times.