Russia Urges Syria Political Progress Despite Split With Turkey
Russia Urges Syria Political Progress Despite Split With Turkey
(Bloomberg) -- Russia called for steps to implement a political process in Syria despite continued disagreement between it and Turkey over a potential offensive against an extremist bastion.
Progress has been deadlocked in part because the offensive planned by Russia threatens to unleash a flow of refugees toward the Turkish border.
“We want to discuss what we can and should do to make sure that the constitutional committee is a functioning institution,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at the start of talks Tuesday with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Interfax reported.
The leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran agreed last week on the membership of a Syrian constitutional committee, which should clear the way for substantial talks on a new constitution, a key objective in their efforts to stabilize war-ravaged Syria.
Still, the mechanism for the functioning of the committee has yet to be thrashed out.
Russia and Iran have expressed growing frustration with the jihadists linked to al-Qaeda in the northwestern province of Idlib. But Turkey opposes any major military campaign against the rebels.
Pacifying Idlib would allow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad consolidate control over all but the oil-rich northeastern part of his country, setting the stage for reconstruction by ending the worst of the fighting.
To contact the reporter on this story: Henry Meyer in New York at hmeyer4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Gregory L. White at gwhite64@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert, John Harney
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