Fifth round of Syrian talks kicks off in Astana

By Azernews

By Kamila Aliyeva

The fifth round of two-day talks on Syria kicked off in Astana with a meeting of a joint working group on de-escalation issues on July 4, RIA Novosti reported.

A number of bilateral meetings at the expert level were held on July 3,  and today they will continue at the level of the heads of delegations in various formats.

The main topic of the talks will be the identification of de-escalation zones, a memorandum on the establishment of which was the main result of the last round.

"First of all, we are talking about how to implement a memorandum on the creation of 4 de-escalation zones, which was signed by the guarantor countries (Russia, Turkey, Iran) during the May meeting,”  Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov said while talking about the agenda of the meeting.

“Undoubtedly, in terms of implementing this memorandum, such issues as defining the boundaries of these zones, as well as defining and discussing the issue of control over the functioning of de-escalation zones are of high importance.”

To date, four rounds of negotiations on the ongoing Syrian conflict were held in the Astana, on January 23-24, February 15-16, March 14-15 and May 3-4.

 During the most recent round, the guarantor countries of a nationwide Syrian ceasefire regime — Russia, Iran, and Turkey — agreed to establish four safety zones across the country.

Abdrakhmanov also recalled that this agreement mentions the establishment of checkpoints and observation posts along the borders of de-escalation zones.

Abdrakhmanov added that according to the Russian center for monitoring the ceasefire regime and reconciliation of the parties in the territory of the Syria, about 65 armed opposition groups joined the regime of truce.

"All the delegations that planned to participate in this important stage of the talks have arrived… This time, as far as I was informed, nine representatives of the armed Syrian opposition, who are currently in our capital, have arrived for the talks" the minister concluded.

The civil war in Syria between government and opposition with various terrorist groups involved, including Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL), began back in March 2011.

Syrian President Bashar Assad managed to turn the tide of war in his favor after Russia started an air campaign in September 2015, while Iran is an uncompromising supporter of the Syrian leader.

According to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.