On 17 February, the two-day meeting which began on Tuesday between the guarantors of the Astana peace process in Sochi formally ended. The meeting between delegations from Russia, Turkey, Iran, the UN, and Syria was convened after the failure of the UN-backed Syrian Constitutional Committee in Geneva to reconcile the Assad government with the Syrian opposition.
A statement made by the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that the current situation in the Constitutional Committee and recent developments in northern Syria and the east of Euphrates were discussed during the meeting. In addition, the meeting reaffirmed the support of all parties to the committee’s work and those involved in its effective and sustainable functioning, including UN Special Envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen, the Turkish Foreign Ministry indicated.
The Syrian Constitutional Committee, which was initiated by the UN in October 2019, is an assembly process made up of 150 members consisting of 50 nominated members representing the Assad government, UN-nominated civil society, and the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), respectively.
