De Mistura stresses importance of trilateral talks on Syria in Astana

By Azernews

By Kamila Aliyeva 

The delegations of the Russian Federation, Turkey and Iran, as well as the UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura have arrived to the capital of Kazakhstan.

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura discussed the events in Syria in the context of the peace talks during a meeting with the Russian delegation in Astana.

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, after the meeting with the Russian delegation in Astana, said that Syria needs truce stabilization and that the meeting between Russian, Iranian and Turkish sides, which are of great influence over the resolution of Syrian crisis, is an important step, RIA Novosti reported.

“The organization of the meeting between three countries that have influence on the parties in Syrian conflict is an important step," said de Mistura, after the meeting. "If it helps to stabilize the truce then it is what the Syrians need.”

The meeting backed by Russia, Iran and Turkey will be held in the Kazakh capital today between the Syrian government and the opposition forces, except for terrorist groups.

As many as 15 representatives of the Syrian opposition groups are represented at Astana talks but there is no single head of delegation.

"No one has been endowed with the authority to represent the entire Syrian opposition, nevertheless there are representatives of all the groups that are involved in the talks, including Mr. Alush from the organization “Jaish al-Islam”. They represent and coordinate their positions and actions themselves,” said Kazakhstan's Deputy Foreign Minister Roman Vasilenko said.

The United States are represented at the talks only at the ambassadorial level but Astana doesn’t see any negative points for progress on Syria talks in this, he added.

The diplomat recalled that in early January, the former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed support for the talks in Astana. Vasilenko also stressed that Washington is not the guarantor of the ceasefire agreement.

According to the Kazakh Foreign Ministry, the talks will be held in the hotel Rixos President Astana. The foreign ministry also noted that the talks will be held behind closed doors.

A new marathon of negotiations on settlement of the conflict in Syria, which is to take place directly with the Syrian side, will start today, at 13.00 (Astana time). The Kazakh side considers that the negotiations will be completed in a day.