Iran, Russia, Turkey Meet in Geneva:

Syria’s Peace Process Put in Motion

Date: 18 December 2018 - 21:27

News ID: ۶۰۹۷۳

GENEVA (Dispatches) -- The foreign ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey said Tuesday that a new Syrian Constitutional Committee should convene early next year, kicking off a viable political peace process.
In a joint statement read out by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after the trio met UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, they said that the work of the new body "should be governed by a sense of compromise and constructive engagement".
De Mistura addressed reporters separately, saying that "there is an extra mile to go" in the "marathon effort" to ensure a credible, balanced and inclusive committee.
He said that he would report to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Wednesday and to the Security Council Thursday and expected his successor Geir Pedersen to build on his work from Jan. 7.
"There is still an extra mile to go, but we do certainly appreciate the intensive work that has been done," de Mistura said.
Lavrov and his counterparts, who support opposing sides in Syria's nearly eight-year-old conflict, began talks in Geneva to seal their joint proposal and seek the United Nations' blessing for it.
De Mistura, who steps down on Dec. 31, has tried since January to clinch agreement on the identity of 150 members of a new constitutional committee to revitalize a stalled peace process.
President Bashar Assad's government and the opposition fighting to topple him each submitted a list of 50 names. But Russia, Iran and Turkey have haggled over the final 50 members from civil society and "independent" backgrounds, diplomats say.
De Mistura said at the weekend that the constitutional committee could be a starting point for political progress.
"It does touch, for instance, on presidential powers, it could and should be touching on how elections are done, on division of power, in other words a big issue," he said.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem, in comments reported by state media on Monday, said it was "early to talk about" the constitutional committee starting work. He blamed attempts at "interference" by Western states for the hold-up in its formation, in addition to "obstacles" laid by Turkey.
Syrian authorities have signaled the need for "amendments" to the existing constitution and also said these must be put to a referendum.
The opposition is reportedly pushing for an entirely new constitution, but Damascus has said it will only discuss altering the current one.
President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday "stressed the importance of efforts exerted by the friendly and allied countries of Syria, particularly Iran and Russia" as he met Hussein Jaberi Ansari, a senior adviser to the Iranian foreign minister, in Damascus.
Assad called for an end to "the interference of some Western states in the political track and consolidating the establishment of a political process led by the Syrians themselves away from any form of external intervention."