UN hails results of Astana talks

By Azernews

By Kamila Aliyeva

The United Nations sees reasons to be optimistic about the development of the situation in Syria in connection with the cease-fire regime and intensification of the political process, said Stephen O’Brian, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.

“We are starting 2017, and as though it may be difficult to imagine, grounds for hope are increasing,” O’Brian said stressing that since December 30 the cease-fire regime throughout the country has been retained, despite some violations, RIA Novosti reported.

A nationwide ceasefire began in Syria on December 30, 2016, to pave the way for new peace talks on Syria. Russia and Turkey serve as guarantors of the ceasefire deal, paving the way for negotiations between the Syrian regime and rebels.

Another reason for hope, according to O’Brian, is intensification of the political direction which became possible due to the results of the Astana meeting, where two warring sides in the Syria conflict were sitting together at the negotiating table for the first time.

“This week we saw how people, despite the years of confrontation, were willing to put aside differences and sit opposite each other in Astana,” O’Brian said.

The Astana talks on Syrian settlement were brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran and took place in the Kazakh capital on January 23 and 24. They marked the first time since the beginning of Syrian civil war in 2011 when the government of Syria and the armed opposition sat together at the negotiations table.

In a joint statement of Russia, Iran and Turkey issued following the Syrian peace talks, the countries agreed to create a trilateral group on monitoring the Syrian ceasefire.

Many experts assessed the agreement between Russia, Turkey and Iran on the establishment of a tripartite mechanism aimed at monitoring the cease-fire as a step to a political solution which might end the six-year war.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharov said that Moscow sees the interaction of Russia, Iran and Turkey on Syria in a constructive and long-term way.

She added that “it is well-known that the Syrian settlement is a long matter and requires consolidation of efforts of all countries involved in the process.”

Armed conflict continues in Syria since March 2011. Government troops are confronted by militants of different armed 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 U.N. 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.