Sochi set for Syria talks despite boycott by opposition, Kurds

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Even as the first delegates arrived in the Russian resort city of Sochi for Moscow-led peace talks on Syria, the embattled Middle Eastern country’s Kurds and a major opposition group announced they will boycott the negotiations scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.

Among the first 175 participants to arrive in Sochi late on Sunday were representatives of the ruling Baath party, the National Progressive Front political alliance, as well as members of the Syrian domestic opposition, Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency reported.

The talks, sponsored by Russia, Iran and Turkey, are aimed at bringing together representatives of different parts of the Syrian society to discuss the future of the country and launch the process of drafting a new constitution.

The initiative however received a blow with prominent opposition faction, the Syrian Negotiation Commission (SNC), announcing a boycott of the Sochi talks while accusing President Bashar al-Assad’s government and Moscow of continuing to rely on military might and showing no willingness to enter into honest negotiations.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (second from left) and head of the united delegation of the Syrian Negotiations Committee (SNC) Nasr al-Hariri (second from right), during a meeting in Moscow, Russia, on January 22, 2018. /VCG Photo.

The announcement came after two days of separate UN-backed peace talks came to a close in Vienna, with an end to the war that has killed more than 340,000 people appearing further than ever.

"This round of negotiations was an international test for the regime, and the test ended yesterday (Friday)," the opposition SNC's Nasr al-Hariri told reporters in Vienna on Saturday.

In the SNC's initial announcement of a boycott, the group said on its Twitter account Friday night that "Russia has not succeeded in promoting its conference".

"The SNC has decided not to participate at Sochi after marathon negotiations with the UN and representatives of countries involved in Syria," it added.

Meanwhile, Syria's Kurdish authorities said they will not attend until Turkey ends its offensive against the Kurdish enclave of Afrin.

"We said before that if the situation remained the same in Afrin we could not attend Sochi," regional official Fawza al-Yussef said.

Turkey's military offensive in Afrin "contradicts the principle of political dialogue", Yussef said.

Turkish forces wave a flag on Mount Barsaya, northeast of Afrin, Syria, on January 28, 2018. /Reuters Photo

Turkey launched operation "Olive Branch" on January 20 against the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in Afrin, supporting Syrian opposition fighters with ground troops and air strikes.

Ankara says the YPG is a "terrorist" offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is proscribed as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies.

UN Syria envoy to attend

The Sochi talks come after multiple rounds of UN-brokered talks failed to end Syria's seven-year war.

The Vienna talks stretched late into Friday night, with both regime officials and the SNC meeting separately with UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura - who did not strike an especially optimistic tone after the grueling negotiations.

As with eight previous rounds of failed UN-backed talks in Geneva, there was no sign that the warring sides had met face to face at discussions intended to lay the groundwork for a new post-war constitution.

De Mistura, speaking to reporters on Saturday, admitted there had been a disheartening lack of progress up until now. "I share the immense frustration of millions of Syrians inside and outside the country at the lack of a political settlement to date," he said.

Earlier on Friday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres promised to the send De Mistura for the Sochi conference.

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan De Mistura speaks during a United Nations Security Council briefing on Syria at UN Headquarters in New York, US, on April 12, 2017. /VCG Photo

Guterres "is confident that the congress in Sochi will be an important contribution" to reviving the peace talks held under UN auspices in Geneva, a UN spokesman said in a statement.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric indicated that Guterres had received assurances that the Sochi conference would not seek to sideline the UN talks.

Guterres was briefed by De Mistura on the outcome of the Vienna talks, and has taken into account a statement from Russia that the result of the Sochi conference "would be brought to Geneva as a contribution to the intra-Syrian talks process under the auspices of the United Nations," the spokesman said in a statement.

The UN chief has "decided to accept the invitation of the Russian Federation to send a representative to attend the Sochi Congress" and has asked De Mistura to go, he added.

Russia has invited more than 1,500 delegates to the two-day conference.

[Cover photo: Smoke billows from villages near the Syrian city of Afrin on January 28, 2018, during the Turkish military operation against the Kurdish enclave. /VCG Photo]

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