During their meeting with UN envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura in Geneva Tuesday, the Foreign Ministers of Russia, Turkey and Iran, known as the guarantor states of the Astana process, failed to agree on a committee responsible for drafting the Syrian Constitution.
The meeting between Russia's Sergei Lavrov, Turkey's Mevlut Cavusoglu and their Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on Syria was joined by de Mistura.
But the talks ended without any breakthrough and three ministers made no press conference.
So, any agreement or discussions on the constitutional committee would be postponed until Thursday, when extensive talks are expected in New York following a briefing by de Mistura before paving way for his successor, veteran Norwegian ambassador Geir Pederson, to take over his mission.
A Syrian opposition leader told Asharq Al-Awsat that the failure to take a step forward in the talks on the committee, forced attending ministers to amend a draft of the final communiqué, which read, “Announcing the establishment of a constitutional committee in coordination with all parties.”
A western diplomat told Asharq Al-Awsat that three obstacles caused the failure of the ministerial meeting in Geneva. First, there was a dispute on the role of the United Nations as de Mistura insists that the organization “sponsors the committee” while the guarantor states suggest holding UN-backed meetings for the committee in Geneva.
The conferees also disagreed on the standards of the committee’s mission and argued on the third list of the constitutional committee, which includes independents and civil society representatives.
After Tuesday’s meeting, the guarantors of the Astana process read a statement that failed to announce the full membership of the committee.
The statement, read by Lavrov, stressed that Russia, Turkey and Iran presented to de Mistura "the positive results of their consultations with the Syrian parties on the composition of the constitutional committee."
The document notes that the three countries agreed to undertake efforts to convene the committee’s first meeting in Geneva in early 2019.
