Thursday, January 21, 2016

Turkish PM says Russia trying to undermine Syria negotiations

Russia and others are trying to undermine negotiations on a solution for the conflict in Syria by including groups such as the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said on Thursday.

In comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he said Russia was complicating the fight against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) by bombing the moderate Syrian opposition and that international coordination was needed against the ISIL militants.

Stating that "terrorist groups" must not be represented at talks on a solution for the conflict in Syria, Davutoğlu said Turkey does not distinguish between ISIL and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in its anti-terror fight.

  • Meanwhile, United States Secretary of State John Kerry said the planned start of the peace talks could be delayed by “a day or two” for logistical reasons, but that the process would roughly begin on time.

Kerry said any delay in the U.N.-led negotiations would be due to the sending of invitations to participants.

“When you say a delay, it may be a day or two for invitations but there is not going to be a fundamental delay,” Kerry told reporters as he sat down to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Associated Press reported.

“The process will begin on the 25th and they will get together and see where we are,” Kerry added.

Hours later, the U.N. said the talks would likely be delayed by a few days past the scheduled start date.

“It is likely the 25th may slip by a few days for practical reasons,” said Jessy Chahine, a spokeswoman for U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura, who is scheduled to host the talks.

Kerry met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Zurich on Jan. 20 in a bid to overcome differences over which Syrian opposition groups would be eligible to attend the talks.
  todayszaman.com/ REUTERS/AFP/AP
 21/1/16
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1 comment:

  1. US Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday peace talks to solve the crisis in Syria would proceed on January 25 as planned, despite a dispute over who would represent the country's opposition...

    "It may be a day or two for invitations but there is not going to be a fundamental delay. The process will begin on the 25th and they will get together and see where we are," Kerry said on the sidelines of meetings at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

    The latest bid to end the Syrian war through indirect talks between the government and opposition will take place in Geneva.

    But a disagreement over which parts of the opposition will be present at the negotiations, and who will represent them, is posing new obstacles.....AFP

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