UN-backed Syria talks to focus on political solution
U.N.-brokered Syria peace talks restart in Geneva on Thursday after a 10-month hiatus that will focus on finding a political solution to the six-year-long conflict that has cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
Hopes for a breakthrough remain dim with the sides still deadlocked over Bashar Assad's fate and violence on the ground persist. United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura has moderated three failed previous rounds of talks and said he was not "deluded" about the prospects for a deal this time.
But he told a weekend security conference in Munich, "it is time to try again." De Mistura has said the agenda remains consistent with the last round, meaning rivals will discuss governance, drafting a new constitution and organizing U.N.-monitored elections, in keeping the framework laid out by the Security Council in 2015.
Turkey, Russia and fellow regime-backer Iran have organized separate negotiations in Kazakhstan's capital Astana. Last week, the Syrian opposition and the Assad regime gathered in Astana Thursday for the second round of talks to discuss the continuity of the nationwide cease-fire in Syria.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, speaking to al-Arabiya during his visit to Gulf countries last week, said the steps taken in Astana are significant. He said a light at the end of the tunnel appeared in Astana, noting, "We need to get out of the chaos not by killing this light but by further extending."
Hopes for a breakthrough remain dim with the sides still deadlocked over Bashar Assad's fate and violence on the ground persist. United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura has moderated three failed previous rounds of talks and said he was not "deluded" about the prospects for a deal this time.
But he told a weekend security conference in Munich, "it is time to try again." De Mistura has said the agenda remains consistent with the last round, meaning rivals will discuss governance, drafting a new constitution and organizing U.N.-monitored elections, in keeping the framework laid out by the Security Council in 2015.
Turkey, Russia and fellow regime-backer Iran have organized separate negotiations in Kazakhstan's capital Astana. Last week, the Syrian opposition and the Assad regime gathered in Astana Thursday for the second round of talks to discuss the continuity of the nationwide cease-fire in Syria.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, speaking to al-Arabiya during his visit to Gulf countries last week, said the steps taken in Astana are significant. He said a light at the end of the tunnel appeared in Astana, noting, "We need to get out of the chaos not by killing this light but by further extending."