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ANKARA, Nov. 19-- Turkey, Iran and Russia have strived for political settlement in Syria ahead of the next round of talks between Syria's government and the opposition held in Geneva on Nov. 28. Russian President Vladimir Putin will host his Turkish and Iranian counterparts, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hassan Rouhani, on Nov. 22 in the Black Sea resort of Sochi for discussions on Syria as they spearheaded a ceasefire initiative in the war-torn country through Astana process. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif met in Turkey's southern province of Antalya on Sunday for preparatory talks of trilateral summit. The framework of Sunday's meeting was to present a summary of what has been done so far and exchange ideas about the joint steps the three countries will take, Cavusoglu told reporters after the meeting. Astana process yielded positive results in Syria regarding efforts for declaring ceasefire, establishing de-escalation zones and decreasing tension in the war-torn country, and situation on the ground is far better compared to last year, the minister said. But the progress on the ground will not sustain unless a political solution is achieved, Cavusoglu pointed out. "We have to concentrate on political process, while continuing to fight terrorist organizations such as Deash (the Islamic State)," the minister said. | 
