"It would be a mistake at this time to try to explain the events in Syria by any foreign interference," Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said at a joint press conference in Ankara with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi.

The recent flareup which saw Damascus losing swathes of territory in northwestern Syria, including Aleppo, during a lightning offensive by rebels, was due to the regime's failure to engage in dialogue with opposition groups, he said.

"The lack of talks between the regime and the opposition has brought the problem to this point," he said, describing it as "a mistake to ignore the legitimate demands of the opposition".

"Damascus must reconcile with its own people and the legitimate opposition," he added.

Turkey did "not want an escalation of the civil war," said the minister who told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone call Sunday that Ankara would support moves "to reduce tension" in Syria.

- Astana talks to resume at weekend -

Araghchi said it was crucial "to protect the achievements of the Astana process" to end Syria's civil war, which groups Ankara, Moscow and Tehran.

Several hours later, he said the respective foreign ministers would meet on the matter next weekend in Doha.

"We decided to continue the Astana process, probably next weekend" when top diplomats from Iran, Russia and Turkey would meet on the sidelines of the Doha Forum, Araghchi said.

"We will try to activate this process again."

Although the Iranian diplomat had been expected to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, it was not clear whether the talks happened.

Earlier, Fidan stressed the importance of not letting "terror organisations... take advantage of the instability", in reference to the Kurdish-led rebels Ankara sees as an offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The PKK has led a led a decades-long insurgency against Turkey.

Turkish troops and Turkey-backed rebel factions control much of northern Syria, and Ankara is concerned the fighting could swell the flow of people fleeing across the border.

"We don't want civilians to be killed or cities bombarded or people being displaced. We want these displaced people to be able to go back. The flow of refugees must be reversed," he said.

Turkey is already hosting some 3.2 million Syrian refugees, UN figures show.

Syria's Bashar al-Assad said Monday the Islamist-led offensive was a bid to redraw the map of the region in line with US interests in a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian.

Both Iran and Russia, which have backed Assad since Syria's civil war broke out in 2011, have said they will help Damascus fight back after losing Aleppo, with Tehran confirming it would keep its military advisers in Syria.

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