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Syria's Permanent Representative to the UN discusses new format of talks

24 February 2017 17:52 (UTC+04:00)
Syria's Permanent Representative to the UN discusses new format of talks

By Kamila Aliyeva

The UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura met rival negotiators for peace talks in Geneva on February 23, but even gathering them at the same negotiation table appeared uncertain as hopes remained low for a breakthrough in the Syrian crisis.

De Mistura held separate meetings with the regime and opposition delegates, notably to discuss the agenda and the format for negotiations. If talks proceed, they are expected to last several rounds, therefore the exact timeframe for completing the talks is yet unknown.

The head of the Syrian government delegation, Permanent Representative of Syrian Arab Republic to the UN Bashar Jaafari told reporters that he had discussed only the format of the upcoming meetings on Friday with the UN Secretary-General Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, TASS reported.

"Today I had a meeting with Secretary General of the UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura during which we discussed the format of the upcoming meetings,” he said stressing that only the format of further negotiations was discussed.

After the meeting with de Mistura, Bashar Jaafari said that the UN Special Envoy presented the list of questions to Syrian delegation for the analysis at the next meeting, the time of which has not been yet determined.

“UN Special Envoy handed us a document to study for the next meeting,” he said.

Jaafari also said that the date of the new meeting with Staffan de Mistura will be agreed through diplomatic channels.

"Our new meeting and its format will be held in accordance with the document, further negotiations, and the date will be agreed through diplomatic channels, in collaboration with the office of Staffan de Mistura," Jaafari said.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Syrian Arab Republic Faisal Miqdad stated that Moscow does not intend in any way to interfere in the process of developing a new Syrian constitution, this task should be fulfilled by the Syrians themselves.

He stressed that "those who try to interfere in the internal affairs of Syria through military means encourage terrorism, murder and destruction" in an Arab country.

The diplomat also expressed the opinion that the events taking place in Syria include the interests of Israel, which seeks to get rid of the legitimate leadership of the SAR and thereby deprive Iran of an important ally in the Middle East.

"If not for this factor, then former U.S. administration would not support the mercenaries and terrorists, and Europe would not have invested in terrorism," the deputy Foreign Minister said.

In conclusion, he said that the so-called "Free Syrian Army", armed groups supported by Turkey which are involved in the operation against the ISIS militants in northern Syria, in fact, do not differ from the terrorists.

The talks in Geneva were expected to be focused on a new constitution, free and fair elections administered under the supervision of the United Nations, and transparent and accountable governance.

In January, during the first round of talks in Astana, Russian delegation presented the parties with a draft of the country's future constitution. According to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, thus Russia has opened the debate on the future content of the basic law.

Armed conflict continues in Syria since March 2011. Government troops are confronted by militants of different armed rebel groups. Russia has begun airstrikes on terrorist facilities in Syria since 30 September 2015. The Russian military involvement follows an official request from President Bashar Assad to President Vladimir Putin.

The UN has repeatedly tried and failed to end the Syrian conflict, which has killed 300,000 and displaced 11 million since it began five years ago.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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