Turkish-Russian-Iranian talks on Syria to go ahead despite assassination

The meeting between the foreign and defence ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey in Moscow will go ahead, the Interfax news agency cited Leonid Slutsky, a senior Russian parliamentarian, as saying. 

All three states have emerged as key players in the Syrian conflict, with Ankara backing rebels trying to topple Moscow and Tehran ally President Bashar al-Assad.

"[The meeting] will be to understand the views of all three sides, laying out where we all stand and discuss where we go from here," an official from Turkey's foreign ministry told international media in Istanbul on Monday, before Andrei Karlov's assassination. 

"It is not a miracle meeting, but will give all sides a chance to listen to each other," the official said.

Turkey and Russia saw relations plunge to their worst levels since the Cold War last year when a Turkish jet shot down a Russian war plane over Syria.

But the rhetoric has warmed considerably since a reconciliation deal was signed earlier this year and a Russian and Turkish-brokered accord has helped the evacuation of citizens from Aleppo in the last days.

Both Russia and Turkey have branded the brazen attack that led to the murder of Russia's ambassador to Ankara by a Turkish policeman at an art exhibition as an "act of terror."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also condemned the attack, saying he was "appalled by this senseless act of terror."