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Russian, Turkish FMs confirm commitment to advance Syria talks

31 October 2017 [15:17] - TODAY.AZ

By Azernews


By Kamila Aliyeva

Russia and Turkey, which support the opposite sides in the Syrian crisis intend to further advance the negotiation process aimed at restoring peace and stability in a war-torn country.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu held a phone conversation on October 30 during which they confirmed their commitment to advancing the intra-Syrian negotiation process, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

“The sides exchanged views on the situation in the Syrian settlement in the context of the 7th international meeting on Syria, being held in Astana October 30-31. In this regard, they confirmed mutual intention to continue efforts, on multilateral platforms as well, in order to further advance the inter-Syrian negotiation process,” the ministry said.

Earlier on Monday, the Russian Foreign Minister held a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif. In particular, the ministers discussed coordination in the Astana process on Syria.

The seventh international meeting on the settlement of the situation in Syria is taking place these days in the capital of Kazakhstan.

During the talks, it is planned to approve the provision on a working group on the release of hostages, prisoners, the transfer of bodies of the dead and the search for missing persons, according to the Kazakh Foreign Ministry. The parties also intend to consider combating international terrorism and adopt a joint statement on humanitarian demining in Syria.

The talks, which are focused on strengthening the ceasefire that came into effect on December 30, are brokered by Turkey, which backs the opposition, and Russia and Iran, which support Bashar Assad.

Astana talks also involve Kazakhstan - as an organizing country, sides to the Syrian conflict - governmental and opposition, and observers from the U.S., United Nations and Jordan.

To date, six rounds of negotiations on the ongoing Syrian conflict were held in Astana.

The sixth round of talks in Astana ended in September with the adoption of a joint statement confirming the intention of the parties to continue work on establishing de-escalation zones in Syria and other decisions previously adopted in the course of the Astana process.

Guarantors of a nationwide Syrian ceasefire regime - Russia, Turkey and Iran - had agreed on May 4 in the Kazakh capital, Astana, to establish "de-escalation zones" in war-torn Syria. The zones would cover the city of Idlib and certain parts of Latakia, Homs, Aleppo and Hama as well as Damascus, Eastern Ghouta, Daraa and Quneitra. The establishment of the fourth one in Idlib province was the spotlight of the sixth meeting in Astana.

De-escalation zones in Syria allowed to significantly reduce the scale of the conflict and contributed to the improvement of the humanitarian situation in Syria.

While the Astana process is separate from the UN’s Geneva talks on Syrian crisis, the attendance of the UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura links the Kazakh platform to broader international efforts. 

Syria has been locked in civil war since March 2011. According to UN's special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, around 400,000 people have died in the conflict while half the population has been driven from their homes.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/166339.html

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