Turkey insists Kurds have no place at UN Syria talks

A ceasefire with the Islamic State (ISIL), also known as Daesh jihadist group and the Nusra Front affiliate of al-Qaeda is not on the agenda ahead of talks between Syrian government and opposition members, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said Monday. “It will be uphill anyway”.

The Geneva II peace conference which took place in 2014 focused on bringing the two sides – the government and opposition – to the negotiation table to agree on forming a transitional government.

“And you will hear them as soon as you will hear the fact that I intend to do them on the 29th and that we will be issuing invitations tomorrow”, said De Mistura, who hopes to send out invitations on Tuesday. Now the Russians are demanding that a key Kurdish group, the YPG, be included in talks – a condition that is likely to cause Turkey to walk out on them.

Cavusoglu told reporters that Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish forces “terrorists”. Sunni-led Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran, both major regional powers and oil producers, have been drawn into the war, with each country supporting its co-religionists. The initiative has run into delays and disputes notably over the invitation list. But he declined to comment on who would be present at the talks, the first phase of which is expected to last about two weeks.

US Secretary of State John Kerry phoned his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to discuss the planned negotiations, after piling pressure on Syrian opposition figures to attend. But Turkey is strongly opposed.

An estimated 300,000 people have been killed in the civil war and millions have been displaced both internally and outside Syria in neighboring countries and Europe.

The UN Security Council passed an ambition resolution on the Syria crisis that set a target for the peace talks to start this month. Governance, a constitutional review and future United Nations sponsored elections would also be priorities, he said.

The renewed diplomatic push to end almost five years of war in Syria comes amid fears over the rise of the Islamic State group.