Ahmad Jarba, leader of the Syrian National Coalition, refused to meet Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and left Switzerland. The Syrian opposition demanded UN Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi mediate the talks at the international conference today.
Andrey Baklanov, an advisor of the speaker of the Federation Council of Russia and deputy head of the Association of Russian Diplomats, the actions of the opposition will only complicate the process, possibly even ruin it. He expert reminded that similar negotiations had happened at first negotiations of Israel and the four states it had fought with in 1949. They had used the Rhodes Formula: each side had been sitting separately and had only met to sign documents, resulting in 4 agreements reached, Baklanov recalled.
The expert noted that it was the will to make progress in the Syrian peace process that mattered, not the formula. Talks should continue even if their level drops, he insists.
Alexey Lyalchenko, an expert of Vestnik Kavkaza, assumes that Jarba’s actions were based on formal differences in statuses of himself and Walid Muallem. It is possible that Jarba did not want to talk with anyone other than the Syrian leader and decided to leave the process to his executive to make it more fair.
Ahmad Jarba, leader of the Syrian National Coalition, refused to meet Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and left Switzerland. The Syrian opposition demanded UN Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi mediate the talks at the international conference today.Andrey Baklanov, an advisor of the speaker of the Federation Council of Russia and deputy head of the Association of Russian Diplomats, the actions of the opposition will only complicate the process, possibly even ruin it. He expert reminded that similar negotiations had happened at first negotiations of Israel and the four states it had fought with in 1949. They had used the Rhodes Formula: each side had been sitting separately and had only met to sign documents, resulting in 4 agreements reached, Baklanov recalled.The expert noted that it was the will to make progress in the Syrian peace process that mattered, not the formula. Talks should continue even if their level drops, he insists.Alexey Lyalchenko, an expert of Vestnik Kavkaza, assumes that Jarba’s actions were based on formal differences in statuses of himself and Walid Muallem. It is possible that Jarba did not want to talk with anyone other than the Syrian leader and decided to leave the process to his executive to make it more fair
