Iran Press/ Europe: According to Daily Sabah, the meeting will be held in the wake of failure at the fifth round of the Syrian Constitutional Committee that convened on Jan. 29 in Geneva. "To me, it has been a disappointment," United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said after the gathering.
During the meeting, the regime representatives balked at proceeding further despite the constructive attitude of the Syrian opposition. Pedersen said his propositions were approved by the opposition but rejected by the regime. “We cannot continue like this. This week has shown that such an approach is not working,” Pedersen noted.
The opposition said that their group completed the 10 main principles of the Syrian constitution and presented them to the Syrian Constitutional Committee in Geneva. However, no concrete progress has been made on the Assad regime side. Four previous talks have not brought any substantial improvement as the opposition demands a new constitution, and the regime proposes the current charter be amended. The guarantor countries aim to end this stalemate during the recent Astana summit.
The countries will also discuss setting a new round for the constitution committee, even though it seems unlikely.
In late January, the trio released a joint statement reaffirming their readiness to support the Syrian Constitutional Committee's work through continuous interaction with the Syrian delegates and Pedersen, as the facilitator, to ensure its sustainable and effective functioning.
They also emphasized the important role of the Constitutional Committee in Geneva, created as a result of the decisive contribution of the Astana guarantors and in furtherance of the decisions of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi in advancing the Syrian-led, Syrian-owned, U.N.-facilitated political process in line with the U.N. Security Council Resolution 2254.
Turkey, Iran, and Russia initiated the Astana meeting to bring the warring sides in Syria together to find a permanent solution to the decade-long war. The main agenda items have been the constitutional system, security, and resettlement.
The Astana process's first meeting was in Turkey in January 2017 to facilitate U.N.-sponsored peace talks in Geneva.
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