Syrian National Dialogue Congress Starts Today in Sochi, Drafts Circulated about Communique Inaccurate (2)

SOCHI, (ST)-Preparations for the launching the Syrian National Dialogue Congress are to start later today in the Russian city of Sochi. Participating delegations continue to arrive in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

The plenary session of the Congress, in which more than 1600 persons representing all strata of the Syrian society will take part, is expected to be held on Tuesday, according to Russia Today website.

 Invitations were sent to the permanent member states of Security Council and the UN General Secretariat, as well as the UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, in addition to Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia to attend the congress as observers. Russia, Iran and Turkey are taking part as being the guarantor states of the cessation of hostilities agreement in Syria.

Drafts Circulated about Congress Communique Inaccurate

Meantime, Sochi Congress sources said that the drafts being published on social media and some media outlets about the communique of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress are absolutely not accurate.

The congress hasn’t started yet and therefore its results cannot be predicted, the sources explained, pointing out that publishing such inaccurate drafts aims to disrupt the event.

Any document or statement resulted from the congress will be put forth and be subject to voting by participants before being adopted, according to the source which also stressed that the congress is an intra-Syrian issue.

Sochi’s Syrian Congress to provide dialogue for all parties without mediators

Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentiev sheds light on the Sochi-hosted Syrian National Dialogue Congress.

In an interview with Itar Tass, Lavrentiev said All strata of Syrian society will be represented in the congress. These are the people, who care about Syria’s fate.

“The invitations were sent not only to groups taking into account their ethnic or religious identity but also to individuals, even to Kurdish representatives. The participation of the Kurds in the Congress is an interesting matter, which concerns many people. I can assure you that the Kurds will come but invitations were sent to them individually,” he said.

Lavrentiev regretted the decision of the so-called “High Negotiations Committee” not to attend the congress.

According to Itar Tass, Lavrentiev said some members of the “opposition” opted to take part in the congress at their own initiative, including the Moscow and the Cairo groups and representatives of other groups, part of what is called “united opposition” formed in Riyadh.

“We are very glad that the UN has taken the decision to attend the Congress, moreover that there are plans to hand over the results of the upcoming congress for the further use and progress towards the Syrian settlement, most notably at the Geneva talks,” he added.

He went on to say that one of the key issues will be the discussion of the current situation in Syria and the search for ways to resolve the conflict. Participants will definitely be provided with an opportunity to address the Congress and clarify their views on ways to attain peace in the country, he clarified.

“One of the goals is to select candidates to participate in the activities of the commission discussing a new constitution. It is very important because this is the matter that we plan to hand over to Staffan de Mistura for implementation, in accordance with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254, so that he could continue his work,” Lavrentiev pointed out.

The Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that the congress will be a landmark event, the first to give voice to so many different groups from Syrian society, including the government and the opposition. While instant reconciliation is unlikely the Congress will get the ball rolling.

“The work that is going on is extremely complex and thorny. But holding the congress itself is a significant step towards a political solution,” Peskov stated. “One should not expect that the political reconciliation will be achieved in Sochi.”

Publishing an Alleged Draft of Congress Communique an Attempt to Undermine It

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said  that publishing an alleged draft about the closing statement of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi is an attempt to undermine it.

As soon as the Syrians arrived in Sochi, the draft of the final statement was distributed to the media, and the telephone calls began to ask for comments on the subject, Zakharova said.

She said that there are claims that everything has been written in advance before the arrival of the participants and that all decisions have been taken, although it is unclear who took the decisions and what these decisions are.

 Hamda Mustafa