UPDATES WITH BILATERAL TALKS, ARMED OPPOSITION STATEMENT AND KAZAKH OFFICIAL REMARKS
By Selen Temizer, Muhammed Shekh Yusuf and Aliia Raimbekova
ASTANA, Kazakhstan (AA) – The eighth round of peace talks aimed at ending the Syria conflict began Thursday in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana.
Astana hosts another two-day meeting attended by representatives from Russia, Turkey and Iran, which are the guarantor states that brokered a cease-fire in Syria in December 2016, leading to the Astana peace talks that are running parallel to Geneva talks.
The Turkish delegation is chaired by the deputy undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry, Sedat Onal, while Alexander Lavrentiev, Russian president's special envoy for Syria, leads his delegation, and Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari heads Iran’s.
Representatives of the Syrian regime, armed opposition groups, as well as delegations from the UN, Jordan and the U.S. also participate in the talks.
Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry announced that UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura would attend the meeting on Friday.
The bilateral talks between the delegations started at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. The Turkish delegation had a meeting with the Russian team.
Onal and the Iranian delegation had a bilateral meeting at 4.00 p.m. local time (1000GMT) for about half an hour. Meanwhile, Lavrentiev and the Syrian regime met separately.
– Idlib and Eastern Ghouta
The armed opposition later met UN officials and released a statement.
“The military delegation in Astana stated that the main objective of the meeting is the release of captives, ” the statement said.
It added the other aim of the opposition was to strengthen the cease-fire in the de-escalation zones.
According to the statement, the opposition wants Russia to fulfill its duty and put pressure with regards to the release of captives.
“Iranian militia forces did not obey the de-escalation deal in Idlib and Eastern Ghouta. Hence, the massacres continue, ” it added.
Meanwhile, the director of the Asia and Africa Department of Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry, Aidarbek Tumatov told reporters that the expectations from these talks are “high “.
“The situation in the Idlib de-escalation zone is expected to be discussed during the talks, ” Tumatov said.
On the release of captives and hostages, he said: “We expect that the parties will reach a concrete result. ”
Thursday's bilateral and multilateral talks will take place in a closed-door format. A plenary meeting is scheduled for Friday.
