OREANDA-NEWS  Turkish Defense Ministers Hulusi Akar, Russia's Sergei Shoigu and Syria's Ali Mahmoud Abbas agreed at a recent meeting in Moscow to create a trilateral commission, Al Jazeera reports, citing a Turkish source.

On December 28, the ministers held their first talks in 11 years, since the civil war began in Syria.

In 2011, a civil war broke out in Syria. Turkey, which had maintained close relations with Damascus before this conflict, sided with the opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Since then, Turkey's relations with Syria have remained difficult. However, in recent weeks, both sides, as well as some media outlets, have been talking about the possibility of gradual normalization.