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WORLD NEWSWednesday 27 January 2016
Russia urges for including Kurds in Syria peace talks
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attends his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia dent Vladimir Putin. 15 percent of the popula-
Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016. “No one has asked for tion.
or offered any political Lavrov also warned against
(AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev) asylum,” he said, adding Saudi Arabia’s proposal
that Assad had promised to invite only opposition
V. ISACHENKOV reflecting sharp differences He specifically shrugged off Putin he would sit down groups that it hosted at a
Associated Press that remain ahead of the reports last week claiming for peace talks with op- meeting last month, saying
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia on talks. that Russia’s military intel- position, including armed the Syrian peace process
Tuesday argued strongly Russian Foreign Minister ligence chief had traveled groups, and engage the should also include other
against Turkey’s demand Sergey Lavrov also denied to Damascus to try to per- “patriotic” opposition in opposition representatives,
to keep a leading Kurdish allegations that Moscow suade Assad to go. Lavrov the fight against the Islam- like those that met for talks
group out of Syrian peace had urged Syrian President said there was no point in ic State group alongside in Moscow last year.
talks, and said it expects the Bashar Assad to step down such a trip as Assad visited the Syrian army. The current opposition
U.N. envoy to resist “black- and could offer him politi- Moscow in the fall and had Lavrov emphasized that negotiating team an-
mail” by Turkey and others, cal asylum. extensive talks with Presi- the Kurdish group, the nounced in Saudi Arabia
Democratic Union Party, last week includes Saudi-
or PYD, plays an important backed Islamic rebel fac-
role in fighting the Islamic tions like Jaish al-Islam, or
State group and is an es- the Army of Islam, which
sential part of political set- Russia considers terrorists.
tlement in Syria. The nearly five-year Syr-
Turkey sees the PYD and ian conflict that began in
its YPG militia group as 2011 with protests against
branches of the Kurdistan Assad’s rule, has morphed
Workers’ Party, a Kurdish into an all-out war that has
resistance group it has long killed a quarter-million and
fought and considers a ter- displaced millions.
rorist group. Lavrov’s statement at a
Lavrov warned that it news conference reflects
would be a “grave mis- the tough posturing ahead
take” not to invite the PYD. of Syria peace talks set to
“How can you talk about start Friday. U.N. special
political reforms in Syria if envoy Staffan de Mistura
you ignore a leading Kurd- will be sending invitations
ish party?” he said, adding amid intense jockeying
that the Kurds account for between countries like Rus-
sia and Turkey about who
Syria: should be invited.
Russia, a key ally of Assad,
Bombings kill 20 as peace talks invitations go out has called for the inclusion
of Kurdish representatives,
ZEINA KARAM neva on Friday. tura, told The Associated rule but escalated into an and the U.S. and others
PHILIP ISSA The office of the U.N. envoy Press in Geneva that the all-out war after a harsh have supported the Kurds
Associated Press for Syria said it sent out in- envoy would not make state crackdown. in the fight against IS. Rus-
BEIRUT (AP) — Multiple vitations for the talks, but public the numbers and The plan calls for cease- sia’s relations with Turkey
bombings struck a govern- with just three days to go, identities of the invitees un- fires in parallel to the talks, a are at a freezing point after
ment-run checkpoint in the the opposition is still unde- til his office gets “feedback new constitution and elec- a Turkish fighter jet downed
central Syrian city of Homs cided about whether it will from the invited parties” — tions in a year and a half. a Russian warplane at the
on Tuesday, attend. a sign of the delicacy of his The attack in Homs, which border with Syria in Novem-
killing at least 20 people One opposition official sug- task. was claimed by the Islam- ber.
and wounding over a gested the Saudi-backed The talks are meant to start ic State group, came as In Ankara, Turkish Prime
hundred amid intense po- opposition delegation may a political process to end government forces retook Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
litical jockeying ahead of boycott the talks. the conflict that began in a southern town from op- on Tuesday reiterated Tur-
U.N.-backed peace talks Khawla Mattar, a spokes- 2011 as a largely peace- position fighters and other key’s opposition to includ-
scheduled to begin in Ge- woman for Staffan de Mis- ful uprising against Assad’s militants.q ing Syrian Kurdish forces at
the Geneva talks. q
