Astana Meeting on Syria Kicks off

ASTANA – Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari, Head of the Syrian Arab Republic delegation to Astana meeting, said Monday in the Kazakh Capital that the Astana meeting on Syria aims at fixing the cessation of hostilities except for the areas where terrorist organizations such as ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra and others, which rejected to join the agreement, are active, according to SANA.

Activities of Astana meeting on crisis in Syria began in Astana on Monday morning with the participation of the Syrian Arab Republic delegation and other delegations.

  “Astana hosting of the meeting represents the mediation policy and the openness of Kazakhstan… it is a fruit of the joint efforts exerted by several parties, particularly the friendly countries of Russia and Iran with the aim of fixing the decision of cessation of hostilities all over Syria except for the areas where terrorist organizations such as ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra and others, which rejected to join the agreement, are active,” al-Jaafri said in the opening ceremony of the meeting.

“We hope that all our efforts will be collaborated in fighting terrorism to meet the demands of our people and this necessitates, to make it a success, closing the Syrian-Turkish borders and drying up the sources of terrorism, he added.

The head of the delegation held foreign powers responsible for what is going on in Syria, citing the latest statement of outgoing U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry as saying that the expansion of ISIS in Syria prior to the Russian assistance for Damascus in its fight against the terrorist organization would force the Syrian State to negotiate with Washington, asserting that this confirms that the outgoing U.S. administration and its regional and international allies have exploited terrorism as a political weapon to destroy an independent state with the aim of controlling it and achieving their own agendas.

Al-Jaafari went on to affirm that Syria spared no effort since the beginning of the terrorist war on Syria to find a settlement and repeatedly proved that, as this is based on its keenness on stopping the bloodshed and restoring security and stability, noting that the Syrian government has engaged effectively with the Russian and Iranian partners to build on the liberation of the city of Aleppo from terrorists to reach an agreement on the cessation of hostilities.

He said that Syria hopes that the meeting will fix the cessation of hostilities for a specified period of time in a way that would separate the terrorist groups that have agreed to the cessation and that desire to national reconciliation on the one side from ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra and other groups affiliated to them on the other side, adding that Syria also hopes that all efforts will unite in fighting terrorism to meet the demands of the Syrian people, and this necessitates closing the Syrian-Turkish borders and drying up the sources of terrorism.

Al-Jaafari went on to say that all national Syrian political powers and trends, government and oppositions, the UN Security Council’s resolutions related to the developments in Syria and the intra-Syrian dialogue and the consultative meetings have unanimously agreed on respecting Syria’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, people’s unity, not abandoning any part of its land and rejecting all forms of foreign interference in Syria’s internal affairs.

“Syria which we love is the homeland of diversity in all its forms, a homeland where the Syrians believe in the basis and principles of their independent democratic secular state based upon political pluralism, the rule of law, independence of the judiciary system, equality among citizens in rights and duties, guaranteeing cultural and social variety among all spectrum of the Syrian people, as well as maintaining the continuation of the work of the state institutions,” he said.

He concluded by calling upon all parties to shoulder their responsibilities to stop the bloodshed and achieve the aspirations of the Syrian people, who have the right to determine their future and choose their political system.

dialogue is the only solution to the crisis in Syria

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said in his message to the meeting, read to participants by Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov at the opening ceremony, that dialogue is the only solution to the crisis in Syria.

“The current difficult situation in Syria has drawn the attention of the entire world. I have to admit that the bloody conflict, which has continued for about six years, has brought nothing but misery and sorrow to the holy land where different civilizations and cultures lived,” he said.

He stressed that his country is working as an objective and neutral mediator, hoping to shed light on the crisis in Syria for achieving tangible results.

Head of the Russian delegation to the meeting Alexander Lavrentyev, on his part stressed that priorities of the meeting should be protecting Syria’s territorial integrity and not turning Syria into fundamental or radical state.

“Russia is fighting terrorism in Syria and it has achieved great achievements in this respect,” he added.

Lavrentyev said he thinks that the meeting is a real opportunity to piush the political process in Syria forward.

Head of the Iranian delegation, Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari, said “we should work to maintain Syria’s unity ad independence,” stressing that the Syrian people have the right to determine their own future.

The US delegation, represented by the country’s ambassador to Kazakhstan, affirmed the United State’s adherence to reaching a political solution to the crisis in Syria that is accepted by the majority of the Syrians.

Following the opening speeches, a closed door meeting between the participating delegations began.