Russia, Turkey, Qatar jointly making attempt to seek political resolution to Syria’s conflict

Russia, Turkey, and Qatar are making a joint attempt to help find a lasting, political solution to Syria’s decade-long conflict, the Turkish foreign minister says.

“Today we launched a new trilateral consultation process,” said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Thursday, following trilateral talks he had with his Russian and Qatari counterparts Sergei Lavrov and Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, respectively.

“Our goal is to discuss how we can contribute to efforts towards a lasting political solution in Syria,” Cavusoglu added.

According to Turkey’s top diplomat, the three foreign ministers were in full agreement that Syria’s conflict, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions more, can only be resolved through diplomacy in accordance with UN resolutions.

Conflict in Syria requires political solution without foreign interference: Lavrov tells UN envoy

The Russian foreign minister says the Syria crisis requires a political solution without foreign interference.

The latest agreement between the three countries and their emphasis on a political solution as the only way to end the conflict came as Turkey and Qatar have supported militants seeking the removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power.

This is while Russia fully supports Assad and has since 2015 significantly helped Damascus, mostly through airstrikes, to seize back territories from foreign-backed militants and Takfiri terrorists.

“I can only welcome Qatar’s desire to make its contribution to creating the conditions for overcoming the current tragic situation in Syria,” said Lavrov, for his part.

However, he stressed that the three countries were not seeking to replace efforts which Turkey, Russia, and Iran had jointly been making since 2017 to curb fighting and violence in Syria and discuss a political solution.

‘Syria’s constitutional committee must work independently to win public support’

Iran, Russia and Turkey have stressed that Syria’s constitutional committee must work independently from any foreign intervention.

Lavrov was pointing to the Astana format, which was initiated by Iran, Russia and Turkey to bring the warring sides in Syria together to find a permanent solution to the conflict in the Arab country. The peace process is known as the Astana process because Kazakhstan’s capital, Nur-Sultan, formerly called Astana, originally hosted the meetings.  

Qatar’s top diplomat, for his part, said that they had also discussed mechanisms for distributing humanitarian aid across the entire war-torn Arab country.

“There is a crucial need to lessen the suffering of the Syrians,” added Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

However, he defended the reasons that led to the suspension of Syria from the Arab League in 2011, when the foreign-backed militancy broke out in the Arab country.

The Arab League suspended Syria's membership in November 2011, citing alleged crackdown by Damascus on opposition protests. Syria has denounced the move as "illegal and a violation of the organization’s charter.”

Iraqi deputy FM calls on Arab League to end suspension of Syria's membership

A senior Iraqi diplomat calls on the Arab League to restore Syria’s membership in the regional organization.

Syria was one of the six founding members of the Arab League in 1945.

In a joint statement released after the conclusion of their talks, the three top diplomats also called on the UN agencies and the World Health Organization to prioritize COVID-19 vaccinations inside the Arab country and urged the United Nations to “enhance” efforts for delivering humanitarian aid.

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