A meeting between the foreign ministers of Türkiye, Russia, Iran and Syria is expected to be held in Moscow next month, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Monday.

Çavuşoğlu noted that the quadrilateral meeting would take place in early May.

"We think it will happen in a period like the beginning of May, according to the preliminary information we received from the Russians. It will be in Moscow ... It is currently scheduled for early May," Çavuşoğlu said in an interview broadcast live on Turkish broadcaster A Haber.

Cavusoglu said the issue was also discussed during Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's visit to the capital Ankara last Friday.

All these talks aim to revive the political process, lasting stability and peace, fight against terrorism, and guarantee Syria's border and territorial integrity, he added.

Stressing the need for a permanent solution to rebuild Syria, the minister said: "A lasting peace is important for all of us."

Çavuşoğlu also said that in the upcoming meeting, the four ministers may also prepare for a possible leaders' summit.

The deputy foreign ministers of the four countries held a meeting last week.

Russia's long-standing effort to open a channel of dialogue between Türkiye and the Bashar Assad regime paid off last year, as the defense ministers and intelligence chiefs of Türkiye, Russia and the Bashar Assad regime met in Moscow on Dec. 28.

Çavuşoğlu said he expects to meet his Syrian counterpart as part of mutual steps taken toward normalizing ties.

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

In November, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said a meeting with Syrian regime leader Bashar Assad was a possibility after having severed diplomatic ties with Damascus throughout the 11-year conflict.

Any normalization between Ankara and Damascus would reshape the decadelong Syrian war.

Turkish backing has been vital to sustaining moderate Syrian opposition in their last significant territorial foothold in the northwest after Assad defeated opponents across the rest of the country, aided by Russia and Iran.