Turkey, Russia, Iran reach agreement on Syria constitutional committee lists

The representatives of the three guarantor countries met with UN Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura on Sept. 10-11 in Geneva, during which they discussed the formation of a constitutional committee and its codes of practice which constitute an important step in the struggle of finding a political solution to the Syrian crisis.

In a joint statement, all sides reaffirmed their resolve to continue joint efforts aimed at advancing the Syrian-led and Syrian-owned process for reaching a political settlement and reiterated their commitment to help establish and launch the work of the constitutional committee.

In the process of resolving the Syrian crisis, the following provisions were emphasized by the parties, focusing on the formation of the constitutional committee lists:

1. Syrian-led and Syrian-owned process for reaching a political settlement and the need to preserve Syrian national sovereignty;
2. Proper adjustments in picking members of the constitutional committee in a way that is acceptable to the involved parties, while also is based on the realities in Syrian scene;
3. All issues and details related to the constitutional committee will ultimately be agreed upon in the form of an integrated package;
4. Arranging the regulations of the Syrian constitution is time-consuming due to the sensitivity of the issue and the consequences of the country's perennial crisis, but all parties emphasize the importance of simultaneous attention to both the speed and quality of efforts.

The representatives of Iran, Turkey and Russia agreed to pave the way for the success of joint consultations with the United Nations to facilitate the formation of Syrian constitutional committee, through setting up a technical team of experts.

It was also agreed that the third round of the consultations would be held in late October.

The meeting in Geneva follows up on the agreement signed at the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi in January, whose final statement called for the creation of a constitutional commission comprising government, opposition and Syrian civil society members.

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