US will be invited to Syria talks: Turkey
BEIRUT: Washington will be invited to fresh Syria peace talks being organized by Moscow and Ankara this month, Turkey’s foreign minister said, but Russia declined to confirm the invitation yesterday. On the ground meanwhile, Syria accused Israel of bombing a key airbase near the capital Damascus before dawn, condemning the incident as a “desperate attempt to support terrorist organizations.”
Despite backing opposite sides in the Syrian conflict, Russia and Turkey have worked closely in recent weeks to broker a nationwide ceasefire that is meant to pave the way for Jan 23 peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana. In the past, Washington has played a key role in attempts to bring Syria’s warring parties to the negotiating table, but it has been notably absent from the cooperation between Ankara and Moscow.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, whose country, like Washington, backs Syria’s rebels, nonetheless insisted Thursday that US officials would be invited.
“The United States should be definitely invited, and that is what we agreed with Russia,” he said.
“Nobody can ignore the role of the United States. And this is a principled position of Turkey,” he added. But the Kremlin, a key ally of President Bashar alAssad’s government, declined to comment on Cavusoglu’s statements.
“I cannot say anything about this for now,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. He added however that Russia is “interested in the broadest possible representation of the parties who have a bearing on the prospects of a political settlement in Syria.”
US to take back seat
Last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed hope that the next American administration would “join the efforts so that we can work in the same direction harmoniously and collectively.”
The Astana talks are scheduled to begin just three days after presidentelect Donald Trump is inaugurated. In recent months, Washington has been largely absent from international discussions about Syria, and experts say Trump is unlikely to focus on the conflict.
“For the new American administration, it’s not a priority to play a role in resolving the Syrian crisis,” said Imad Salamey, head of the political science department at the Lebanese American University.
“I think that with Trump in the White House, leadership will stay in the hands of Russia, but they will demand guarantees, particularly on Israel’s security and the reduction of Iran’s role,” he told AFP.
Invitations to the talks have yet to be sent out, and the format of the discussions remains unclear.
A source close to the Syrian government said it expected the meeting to open with a session including all the invited parties but most of the discussions would take place directly between the government and rebels under Russian and Turkish supervision. —AFP