Iran’s Delegation at Astana Syria Talks Meets with Russians, Turks
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An Iranian diplomatic delegation that has travelled to Kazakhstan to attend a new round of Syria peace negotiations held separate meetings with the Russian and Turkish teams there on Saturday.
The Iranian and Turkish delegations, led by deputy foreign ministers of the two countries, held talks at Astana’s Marriott Hotel on Saturday, according to IRIB.
The unofficial bilateral talks followed a same meeting between Iranian and Russian diplomats.
The peace negotiations between the Syrian government and the opposition will be held on January 23 and 24.
Head of Iran’s delegation in the forthcoming negotiations, Hossein Jaberi Ansari, has announced that Tehran will pursue a four-point plan that it had put forward earlier, entailing preservation of Syria’s territorial integrity.
The proposal includes plans to safeguard Syria’s territorial integrity and national sovereignty and put all issues to the vote of the Syrian people, he noted, saying Iran will pursue the same plan in the Astana talks.
Hosted by the Kazakh government and overseen by Russia, Iran and Turkey, the upcoming talks will see the Syrian government and the armed opposition groups discuss a way out of the crisis that has plagued the Arab country for six years.
Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with various terrorist groups, including Daesh (ISIL), currently controlling parts of it.
Diplomatic efforts to end fighting in Syria have gained momentum in recent weeks with the announcement of a ceasefire in the Arab country earlier this month.
The truce, which has been negotiated between Russia, Iran, Turkey, the Damascus government and the Syrian opposition, excludes terrorist groups such as Daesh and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.