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Syria calls on Turkey to withdraw troops from Syria, close border

Xinhua, February 17, 2017 Adjust font size:

Syrian government calls on Turkey to withdraw its troops from Syria and close Turkish-Syrian border to the flow of terrorists.

"Turkey should withdraw its troops from the territory of Syria," said Bashar al-Ja'afari, head of the Syrian government delegation at the peace talks in Astana on Thursday.

He stated that Turkey bears responsibility for violation of Syrian sovereignty, saying "Turkish authorities must close the border for the flow of terrorists in Syria."

Bashar al-Ja'afari highlighted that Turkish government is responsible for the safety of 910 kilometres of the border common with Syria, saying "Turkey does not bear the responsibility, and, on the contrary, it contributes to the penetration of tens of thousands of mercenaries from different countries of the world through our joint border."

He also said that Syrian government will study a negotiating document on the establishment of tripartite operations group for monitoring the ceasefire with the participation of Russia, Turkey and Iran and will express own position later.

According to the Head of the Syrian government, the Geneva Conference should take into account all the results and the resolution of negotiations in Astana.

"Geneva conference should take into account all the results and resolution of Astana-1 and Astana-2 peace talks, so that they could became the basis for the work at the upcoming meeting in Geneva," Ja'afari said.

He emphasised that every meeting cannot start from scratch and parties can't forget the steps that have been made during the previous meetings.

Mohammed Alloush, chief of the Syrian opposition delegation said Syrian armed opposition does not accept Iran as a party, which can take part in the monitoring mechanism. "We also confirmed that Iran's role in Syria is rejected completely," he stated at the Astana press conference on Thursday.

Alloush also said that a decision on the participation of the armed Syrian opposition in the upcoming meeting in Astana will be made only after studying the results of the latest talks on Syria.

This meeting was the second such event on Syrian issue held in Astana, Kazakh capital. The negotiations lasted two days. The next meeting on Syria will take place in Astana in one month. Working groups will gather to continue working on the peace process. Endit