The delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic, headed by Assistant Foreign and Expatriates Minister, Dr. Ayman Sousan, held a meeting with the Russian delegation headed by the Russian President’s Special Envoy to Syria Alexander Lavrentiev, within the framework of the 17th Meeting on Syria in the Astana Format, which started activities on Tuesday in the Kazakh capital, Nur-Sultan.

During the meeting, the items on the meeting’s agenda were reviewed, as Dr. Sousan stressed that the US and Turkish occupations and their subversive policies, including the illegitimate unilateral coercive measures, are the main cause of Syrians’ suffering and prolonging the crisis, in an attempt to impede the consolidation of stability in Syria.

Sousan underlined the importance of exerting maximum pressure on the Turkish regime to compel it to implement the outputs of the Astana process and the understandings with the Russian side, and to put an end to the illegitimate Turkish presence in Syria.

With regard to humanitarian aid, Sousan stressed Syria’s principled stance in rejection of the entry of aid across the border, especially since the Western powers did not abide by their commitments under resolution no. 2585, stressing that the Syrian state would continue to provide aid to those in need without any discrimination.

For his part, Lavrentiev reiterated Russia’s rejection of everything that would prejudice the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria, underlining the importance of joint action to confront the policies of some Western countries that seek to exploit the humanitarian situation, including the continuation of imposing coercive measures to serve their agendas.

With regard to the political process, the two sides expressed the congruence of their views regarding the rejection of attempts of external interference in the work of the Committee of Discussing the Constitution.

Earlier, the 17th Meeting on Syria in the Astana Format started activities on Tuesday in the Kazakh capital, Nur-Sultan, and will last for two days.

The delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic, headed by Dr. Ayman Sousan, Assistant Foreign and Expatriates Minister, is participating in the meeting.

The delegations of the guarantor states of the Astana process, namely Russia, Iran and the Turkish regime, will participate in the meeting as the Russian delegation is headed by the Russian President’s Special Envoy to Syria Alexander Lavrentiev, and the Iranian delegation is headed by Senior Assistant to Iranian Foreign Minister for Special Political Affairs Ali Asghar Khaji, while the Turkish regime’s delegation is headed by Selçuk Ünal, Director General for Bilateral Political Relations at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as representatives of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense.

Delegations from Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq are also participating as observers at the ambassadorial level, along with the United Nations delegation headed by the UN Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Khawla Matar and a delegation of the so-called “armed opposition”.

The current meeting is distinguished from previous meetings in that it will not be concluded with a plenary session, as is customary, with the participation of all participating delegations and the media, but will only issue a final statement, the text of which will be published on the internet, in compliance with the precautionary measures and the rules of spatial distancing to curb the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic. This will be preceded by bilateral and tripartite meetings between the participating delegations within two days of the meeting’s activities.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the host country, Kazakhstan, had suggested earlier that a meeting of the foreign ministers of the guarantor states would be held on the sidelines of the current meeting of the Astana Format, but this news did not materialize.

Diplomatic and media sources indicate that the bilateral and tripartite talks will focus on the issues of continuing the fight against terrorism in Syria, the continuation of the US and Turkish occupation of parts of its lands, the looting of its wealth and natural resources, and the analysis of compliance with the system of cessation of the aggressive practices committed by Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists and other terrorist organizations in Idleb province in particular, in addition to the subversive role of the Turkish regime and its aggressive and inhumane practices, whether through its lack of commitment to the outputs of Astana and the Turkification policies in the areas it occupies, or through cutting off water to Syrian citizens in Hasaka province, in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.

It is noteworthy that the last meeting of the Astana Format was held in Nur-Sultan on the seventh and eighth of last July. So far, sixteen meetings of the Astana Format have been held, two of which took place in the Russian resort of Sochi on the Black Sea, and all of them have affirmed strong commitment to Syria’s sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity.

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)