Next meeting on Syria scheduled for March 14-15

By Azernews

By Kamila Aliyeva

Astana will once again be a platform for talks on settling the Syrian crisis on March 14-15, while guarantor countries have been discussing its format and level.

Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov said on March 6 that guarantor countries [Russia, Iran and Turkey] continue consultations on the dates of a new meeting on Syria to be held in Astana

"Preliminary dates announced in Geneva, that is, March 14-15, still remain," Sputnik Kazakhstan cited the Kazakh top diplomat as saying.

He further added that representatives of the Syrian opposition had expressed concern over a number of issues.

"In Geneva, I had a chance to speak to several representatives of the Syrian opposition who expressed some concern, as, in their opinion, the ceasefire agreements are not being implemented appropriately as well as agreements on the prisoner release and documents on defining areas to which the ceasefire agreements apply. We have briefed the guarantor countries on the opposition’s concerns," Abdrakhmanov said.

The previous international meeting on settling the Syrian crisis took place in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana on February 15-16.

Participants in the meeting discussed issues related to monitoring the ceasefire and the prospects of the intra-Syrian consultations in Geneva. Apart from the guarantor countries and delegations of the Syrian government and the armed opposition, Jordan, the United States and the United Nations also participated in the meeting.

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.