Syrian National Dialogue Congress starts in Sochi

The Syrian National Dialogue Congress is starting in Russia's Sochi today. The first delegates, including from the Ba’ath Party, internal opposition members from Damascus, have already arrived in Sochi. Other participants will arrive today.

According to the forum’s organizers, representatives of the Kurds, the Yezidis, the Druze and other Syrian ethnic and religious groups will participate in the upcoming Syrian National Dialogue Congress alongside the Arabs, who will form the majority of the event’s participants.

"Over 1,600 delegates representing all layers of the Syrian society are invited to attend the congress. In terms of ethnic makeup, the Arabs will form the majority of the delegates (94.5%), however the Kurds are also represented, as well as the Yezidis, the Assyrians, the Armenians, the Circassians, the Chechens, the Dagestanis, the Abkhazians, the Turkomans, and the Druze," the statement reads.

Attendees from the UN Security Council permanent members along with Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia have been invited to take part in the forum as observers. The first group of the congress participants arrived in Sochi yesterday.

According to the congress' organizers, the external opposition will be represented by Moscow and Astana platforms, the Syria's Tomorrow Movement and the National Coordination Committee for the Forces of Democratic Change.

The congress' organizers also stated that there were Syrian domestic opposition from the Syrian People's Council, the Syrian major political parties, including Syria's ruling Arab Socialist Baath Party and the National Progressive Front, eminent religious leaders of all faiths, trade unions, arts organizations and national minorities among the congress' participants.

"A particular group of participants is 'reconciled' members of illegal armed groups, a total of 230 small armed groups have disarmed voluntarily during the counterterrorism operation" the statement added.

The forum organizers also announced that the delegation of the Syrian Foreign Ministry, headed by Ahmad Arnus, the adviser of the Syrian foreign minister, has been invited to take part in the event.

"Besides, the delegation of the Syrian Foreign Ministry headed by the [Syrian foreign] minister's adviser and comprising the directors of the ministry's relevant departments has been invited to the congress," the statement said.

The Russia-organized Syrian National Dialogue Congress will be held in Sochi on January 29-30. The forum, which is expected to launch the process of drafting of the new Syrian constitution, will provide an opportunity for both the government and the domestic, external and armed opposition groups to express their positions. The delegates will work to stimulate dialogue between various strata of Syrian society on shaping the country’s post-war future, to create conditions for restoring national unity and hammer out a political settlement to the crisis based on United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254.