Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will host a summit on the Syria conflict with the leaders of Russia, Germany and France on October 27 in Istanbul, his spokesman said Friday.

The summit will be attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as French and German leaders Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said, cited by the state-run Anadolu news agency.

It will seek efforts to find a “long-lasting solution” to the Syria conflict as well as the situation in the last major Syrian rebel-held bastion of Idlib, Kalin said.

Erdogan had previously planned to host the international summit in September, but it did not take place then.

Russia and Turkey announced an agreement on September 17 to create a demilitarized buffer zone ringing the Idlib region, the last militants’ stronghold in the war-torn country.

The deal to create a 15-20 kilometer-wide zone came after a flurry of activity as Turkey sought to avoid a planned offensive by government troops aimed at liberating the northwestern province of terrorists.

According to the deal, the zone would separate terrorist and government zones under the supervision of the two sponsor countries.

The deal gave foreign-backed opposition until October 10 to clear the buffer zone of any heavy weapons.

Source: Agencies