Russia says Syria peace congress is on track

The Kremlin said yesterday that Turkey’s opposition to the participation of Kurdish militias in Syria’s political process would not stand in the way of a peace “congress” Moscow is seeking to organise in the near future.

“We know that there are certain reservations on the part of our Turkish partners with regards to the forces they believe pose a threat to their national security,” Peskov told reporters at the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

“But this does not mean that work will not be conducted. Intense expert work to agree and check the lists [of congress participants] lies ahead.”

He said the congress would be convened “in the near future” but did not provide more details.

On Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin hosted the leaders of Iran and Turkey for a key trilateral summit aimed at finding a political settlement of Syria’s sixyear civil war.

Also, Turkey said it supported a political solution for Syria but retains its “red lines” on the subject of Bashar Al Assad remaining president. Turkey made clear its “reservations” about Al Assad having any future role in Syria “after all these deaths”, Mahir Unal, the spokesman of the Justice and Development Party, told reporters.

The main Syrian opposition meeting in Riyadh said yesterday they rejected any role for Al Assad at the start of a UN-sponsored interim period leading to a political transition, according to a communique.

Russia, Iran and Turkey sought to show a united front, saying they hoped a Moscow-championed “congress” would bring together Bashar Al Assad’s forces and the opposition.