Kazakh FM: Astana talks will contribute to Geneva peace process

By Azernews

By Kamila Aliyeva

The forthcoming two-day talks in Astana on monitoring the ceasefire regime in Syria will serve as a groundwork for the much-anticipated reconciliation of Geneva peace talks which are scheduled for February 23.

The participants of the next meeting on Syria in Astana will discuss the monitoring of violations of the ceasefire regime and sanctions against violators, the head of the Foreign Ministry of Kazakhstan Kairat Abdrakhmanov said, TASS reported.

"In particular, the question of the fixation mechanism of the violations of the ceasefire regime, as well as the application of sanctions against violators will be discussed," he said.

According to the information from the guarantor countries - Russia, Turkey, and Iran, the document on the establishment of Task Force overseeing the ceasefire is going to be adopted at the meeting.

He explained that the document should formalize the activities of this group.

The forthcoming meeting will focus on the implementation of the ceasefire regime in the Syrian Arab Republic, on the measures to stabilize the situation in particular areas, on the adoption of rules for a joint operational group, and agreeing upon further measures on the consolidation of ceasefire regime, as well as on other practical steps in light of the upcoming intra-Syrian talks in Geneva.

"This is one of the most urgent issues, because the more the sphere of dissemination of the ceasefire expands, the more it is likely that in the end, peace, order, and stability will be restored in the Syrian land," the minister added.

The delegations of Damascus, Syrian armed opposition, UN representatives and Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura and representatives of Jordan and the United States were invited to the upcoming high-level meeting scheduled for February 15-16, 2017.

Kazakh foreign minister said that Turkish side is expected to provide information on the composition of its delegation and the armed Syrian opposition’s participation in Astana talks.

Abdrakhmanov confirmed that "the delegations of the Russian Federation and the Syrian government have already arrived, while Iranian and Jordanian delegations are expected to come soon."

The participation of representatives of Jordan in the talks is an attempt to further decrease the flow of weapons into Syria as this country used to be a transit country for weapons and insurgents.

There is still no information about the participation of the representatives of the United States, although earlier Russia expressed its hope that the U.S. delegation will come as observers to the second round of talks.

"Information on the U.S. participation is yet to come," Abdrakhmanov said.

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

The talks resulted in Moscow-Tehran-Ankara agreement on the establishment of a tripartite mechanism to monitor the ceasefire in Syria.

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

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 UN has repeatedly tried and failed to end the Syrian conflict, which has killed 300,000 and displaced 11 million since its beginning 6 years ago.