Syria peace talks

[krzepice1976]

Turkey supports the participation of Kurds in talks on the future of Syria but is against the participation of the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said, amid reports that other Syrian groups could be invited to a planned conference on Syria’s future.

“The YPG is not the sole representative of the Kurds. Actually it represents only a small portion of them,” Çavuşoğlu said in an interview with private broadcaster NTV on Dec. 12.

Ankara sees the YPG as an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), therefore a terrorist group.

“[The YPG] forces people into joining its armed group. Kurds currently cannot go back to the 20 percent of the Syrian lands controlled by the YPG. We are not against our Kurdish brothers, we stand with them,” Çavuşoğlu said, adding that some 300,000 Kurds have escaped to Turkey from the Syrian war.
Commenting on reports that the Iraqi army and the YPG have decided to work together in securing the borders, Çavuşoğlu said Turkey would “discuss the issue with Baghdad.”

“We know Iraq is also disturbed by the YPG,” he added.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-gives-nod-to-kurds-but-not-the-ypg-in-syria-talks-123978

 

[krzepice1976]

The Syrian opposition claims the government delegation to the Geneva peace talks is coming up with new conditions, making it difficult to move forward.

Opposition spokesman Yahya Aridi said on Tuesday that the Damascus delegation told UN envoy Staffan de Mistura they won't negotiate directly. He said de Mistura told them about the government's stance.

Aridi says the opposition delegates "consider this to be a precondition." There was no immediate response from the government team in Switzerland.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2017/12/12/Syrian-Opposition-says-government-obstructing-Geneva-talks.html

 

[krzepice1976]

Syrian Arab Republic delegation, headed by, Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari, held 2nd session of talks with the UN Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura on Tuesday.

On Monday, the Syrian Arab Republic delegation held the first session of talks with de Mistura.

The delegation arrived in Geneva on Sunday to participate in the second stage of the 8th round of the dialogue.

In a press conference at the end of the 1st stage, which concluded on December 1st, al-Jaafari affirmed that there are those who seek to derail the Geneva talks by trying to impose preconditions, pointing out that the statement of the “Riyadh 2” group aimed at undermining the chances of a successful dialogue in Geneva which is totally unacceptable.
https://sana.sy/en/?p=121026

 

[Jaster Meerell]

Russian diplomatic sources: Bashar al-Assad will step down from presidency and Farouk al-Sharaa will replace him as president of a transitional government. Ankara, Tehran and Moscow positive on his name:

https://twitter.com/metesohtaoglu/status/940705171541291008

Note: Still searching for more intelligence on this, I will post it if I find it.

 

[krzepice1976]

The UN envoy for Syria acknowledged on Dec. 14 that the latest round of peace talks for the war-ravaged country had failed, and blamed Damascus for the “golden opportunity missed.”

Staffan de Mistura told reporters that “we did not have real negotiations, blaming in particular the government delegation’s apparent lack of interest in discussing anything besides the fight against “terrorism.”

His statement came at the end of the eighth round of indirect talks in Geneva between delegations representing Damascus and the opposition in Syria’s brutal, nearly seven-year war.

Seven previous rounds of talks mediated by De Mistura have also gone nowhere - and the rival sides have not yet met face-to-face.

The U.N. mediator, who has described himself as a “chronic optimist” and highlights incremental progress where others see stalemate, had voiced hope that the eighth round that opened on Nov. 28, would mark the first “real negotiation. “

But as the round fizzled out on Dec. 14, he acknowledged he was “disappointed.”

“In spite of lots of efforts of my whole team, we did not have real negotiations,” he told reporters.

“We are not going to give up,” he said, stressing the need to find a political solution to the conflict that has killed more than 340,000 people since March 2011.

Talks this month have snagged on the issue of President Bashar al-Assad’s future, with the opposition delegation defying calls to give up its demand that the president must go as part of any peace deal.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-to-launch-initiatives-in-un-to-annul-us-jerusalem-move-erdogan-124199

 

[Obreid]

It seems to me Syria and Iran don't be on the same page as Russia regarding settling things down in the Levant.

Russia can only play this game so long I wonder if they run out of patience with them?