Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is expected to hold a meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the sidelines of a summit of the D-8 group of developing countries in the Pakistani capital on Thursday, Nov 22, Today’s Zaman reported.

Erdoğan, who is scheduled to deliver a speech at the summit, is expected to discuss the 20-month-long crisis in Syria with Ahmadinejad as the two leaders find themselves increasingly at odds over the issue.

Erdoğan's meeting with Ahmadinejad in Islamabad comes after the Turkish PM had another unscheduled meeting with Ahmadinejad two weeks ago, on Nov 8, on the sidelines of the 5th Bali Democracy Forum in Bali, Indonesia. The two leaders walked together for a while after meeting by chance at the forum venue, reportedly discussing Syria along the way.

The two men recently also had a surprise meeting on the sidelines of a summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in Baku, where Syria was the primary topic of discussion, which lasted for about 40 minutes.

An Iranian news report has recently stated that the foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey and Egypt will hold a meeting at the same summit in Pakistan to discuss the current crisis in Syria.

A Turkish diplomatic official who spoke on condition of anonymity did not deny the report and added that Turkey was making preparations for the meeting, according to Today's Zaman. "It is still not definite whether the meeting will take place. If some logistical problems occur at the last moment, the meeting may not take place. But in any case, Turkey is making the necessary preparations for the meeting,” said the official.