Yesterday in Geneva, the foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey and Iran - the guarantor countries of the Astana format - discussed with the special envoy of the UN Secretary General for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, the political structure of the SAR. They presented the results of their consultations with the Syrian parties on the composition of the Constitutional Committee, the first meeting of which is to be held in early 2019 in Geneva. The committee should prepare the ground for the drafting of a new constitution and holding of the elections.
The parties agreed that the Constitutional Committee should be guided by the spirit of compromise and constructive participation in its work in order to achieve general agreement among its members, which will provide support to the Syrian people. It is assumed that these steps will initiate a viable and long-term political process, carried out by Syrians themselves with the assistance of the United Nations, in accordance with the decisions of the Congress of the National Syrian Dialogue (CSND) in Sochi and the UN Security Council resolution 2254. Russia, Iran and Turkey reaffirmed their commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the SAR, noting that these principles should be respected by all parties.
As Reuters writes in the article Russia, Iran, Turkey back new Syria constitution body but fail to agree makeup, Staffan de Mistura, U.N. Special Envoy for Syria who steps down on Dec. 31, has tried since January to clinch agreement on the identity of 150 members of a new constitutional committee to revitalise a stalled peace process. President Bashar al-Assad’s government and the opposition fighting to topple him have each submitted a list of 50 names. But Russia, Iran and Turkey have haggled over the final 50 members from civil society and “independent” backgrounds, diplomats say. “The three countries are coming with a proposal for the third list, which has been the heart of the problem,” one diplomat following the negotiations closely told Reuters.
Turkey and other nations would consider working with Assad if he won a democratic election, Cavusoglu said on Sunday. Turkey supports rebels who control part of northwest Syria. Assad, whose forces have reclaimed most of Syria with Russian and Iranian support apart from Idlib, a northwestern province, has clung to power throughout the conflict and is widely seen as being loath to yield power after it ends.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem, in comments reported by state media on Monday, said it was “early to talk about” the constitutional committee starting work. He blamed attempts at “interference” by Western states for the hold-up in its formation.
Syrian authorities have only ever signalled a readiness for “amendments” to the existing constitution and also said these must be put to a referendum.
De Mistura said at the weekend that the constitutional committee could be a starting point for political progress. “It does touch, for instance, on presidential powers, it could and should be touching on how elections are done, on division of power, in other words a big issue,” he said.
