Syria Talks: Peace Effort on Track As Delegates Gather In Sochi
Local Editor
A new round of talks between the Syrian government and the opposition aimed at solving the country's crisis kicks off in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Monday.
United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura will be attending the Congress of National Dialog along with some 1,600 people representing a wide range of Syria's political forces.
Meanwhile, Saudi-backed opposition group, the Syrian Negotiation Commission, boycotted the talks and Syria's main Kurdish militant group has said it will be absent over a Turkish incursion into northern Syria.
Moscow said on Monday the absence of some representatives of the Syrian opposition will not be a serious setback for the conference.
"The fact that some representatives of the processes currently ongoing in Syria are not participating is unlikely to stop this congress from going ahead and cannot seriously sabotage it," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Ankara has opposed the contribution of the Syrian Kurds to the initiative since it was launched last year.
The talks in Sochi on Monday and Tuesday are sponsored by Russia, Iran and Turkey.
Russia, Iran and Turkey hope the talks could compensate for the lack of progress in UN-brokered talks to end Syria's seven-year war. The three countries have coordinated the establishment of de-escalation zones in Syria - a separate initiative which many say has helped drastically reduce fighting in the Arab country.
On January 26, the ninth round of UN-brokered indirect peace negotiations between the Syrian government and opposition groups was held in the Austrian capital city of Vienna.
The UN talks have so far failed to achieve any concrete results, mainly due to the opposition's insistence that the Syrian government cede power.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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