Astana talks draft communique: Russia, Turkey, Iran to fight against IS, al-Nusra together

… from  TASS, Moscow

[ Editor’s Note: Mr. al-Ja’afari has confirmed what I have been posing in my interviews on the peace talks, that one of the main goals was to flush out which groups were in, and which ones would be out of the political negotiations.

The agenda has been kept tight so participants cannot propagandize anything they want to. But they can walk out, which Ja’afari is showing that no one on the Syrian coalition side cares. If groups want to self exclude themselves that is fine, but they will not be allowed to hold the talks hostage.

The UN’s de Mistura made a huge mistake letting the Saudi HNC group do that, which torpedoed the initial UN talks, which was the intention of the Saudi’s participation.

Syria has enough momentum to continue taking territory away from the designated terrorists, and the undesignated ones. If the opposition wants to drag out the process, Damascus will not only continue to strengthen its negotiation position via the population under its control, but be able to start moving people back to their homes and rebuilding.

Even an idiot knows that will shoe him in for re-election, because everybody will see that the opposition was willing to keep the war going indefinitely. They will find themselves with 5 to 10% of the Parliament seats when this is all done, having destroyed Syria to end up right where they were in the beginning, or worse.

The first day’s meeting ended with a draft agreement, “Iran, Russia and Turkey confirm their determination for joint fight against the IS and al-Nusra and their separation from the armed opposition groups,” … “We are planning to create a trilateral mechanism to make sure the ceasefire be observed and to prevent any provocations.” ... Jim W. Dean ]

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– First published … January 22, 2017 –

[ Update 3:42pm EST:  The opposition went on the attack during the Astana talks, accusing Damascus of ceasefire violations in attacking the terrorists who were poisoning the Wadi Barata water supply, claiming that such was a normal activity in a conflict.

You just can’t make this stuff up. Syria is negotiating the surrender of the remaining Wadi Barata combatants to take a local amnesty or moving to Idlib. If this is successful the Syrian Army can redeploy their troops to continue clearing the Damascus suburbs of the listed terrorist orgs.

The first day’s meeting ended with a draft agreement, “Iran, Russia and Turkey confirm their determination for joint fight against the IS and al-Nusra and their separation from the armed opposition groups,” … “We are planning to create a trilateral mechanism to make sure the ceasefire be observed and to prevent any provocations.” …JD ]

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Opposition groups bring up provocative, unrealistic issues in Astana talks: Syria envoy

… from Press TV,  Tehran

Syrian Ambassador to the United Nations Bashar al-Ja’afari says the upcoming peace talks over the nearly six-year crisis in the country will be only “Syrian-Syrian.” 

Ja’afari, who also leads the Syrian delegation to the peace negotiations, made the remarks in a press conference in the Kazakh capital of Astana, where the two-day talks – organized by Iran, Russia and Turkey – will commence on Monday, with the participation of the representatives of the Syrian government and opposition groups.

The talks will focus on the cessation of hostilities but exclude the Daesh and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham Takfiri terrorist groups.

“This would be a test of the credibility and seriousness of the participants, whether those who will be sitting at the discussion table or their operators,” he further said, adding that the talks would also focus on strengthening ceasefire lines.

Commenting on the role of neighboring Turkey in the Astana talks, Ja’afari said that Ankara had violated the sovereignty of Syria by launching a military campaign back in August without any authorization from Damascus, adding that Turkey has also provided “assistance” to the terror groups wreaking havoc inside the Arab country.

Furthermore, Turkey has impeded the peaceful resolution of the persisting conflict, he went on to say.

“For us and for our Russian and Iranian friends, neither the Turkish side nor any other side will be taking part in the meeting, as it is an intra-Syrian dialogue among Syrians without foreign interference or preconditions, except for the common denominators that we talked about and which are supposed to be on the agenda,” Ja’afari said.

He also noted that there had been no negotiations to date between Syrian and Turkish governments regarding the conflict. The senior Syrian negotiator also said Damascus hoped that the United States’ actions would be more positive and Washington would take further steps in “pushing things forward towards the political solution” of the crisis in Syria.

Headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Jaberi-Ansari, the Iranian team arrived in the Kazakh capital on Saturday.

The Russian delegation is also headed by President Vladimir Putin’s point man on Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, while Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal is leading the Turkish representatives.

Coordination between Iran, Russia, and Turkey helped bring about an agreement on the evacuation of militants in the northwestern Syrian city of Aleppo late last year. A ceasefire was also negotiated for the city, and, as the agreement held, the way was paved for its extension to the entire country.

Foreign-sponsored militancy began in Syria in 2011. Substantive financial, political, and ideological support was offered to the militants by countries opposed to the Syrian government, most notably the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.

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Jim W. Dean

Jim W. Dean is VT Editor Emeritus.  He was an active editor on VT from 2010-2022.  He was involved in operations, development, and writing, plus an active schedule of TV and radio interviews.  He now writes and posts periodically for VT.

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