A lawmaker said on Monday that the planned Syrian National Dialogue Congress provides an opportunity for talks between the Syrian government and the opposition, and eventually clears the path for an election.
“As a result of this congress, the groundwork for conducting a free election will be laid,” Behrouz Nemati was also quoted as saying by ICANA in a recent interview.
The presidents of Iran, Russia and Turkey, namely Hassan Rouhani, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, respectively held a summit in the Russian city of Sochi last week, where the trio agreed that the Russian president take the central role in initiating a Syrian peace congress to end the lingering civil war in Syria.
On the decision to organize a Syrian National Dialogue Congress, Nemati said, “Iran has always believed that the only people responsible for the fate of Syria are the Syrian citizens.”
The trilateral agreement over convening a national congress could not only lead to a free election, but might even bring about some amendments in the country’s constitution.
President Rouhani commented on the peace congress on Saturday in a phone call with his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, saying that “the Sochi summit was a right step at the right time.”
He said a national congress to hold face-to-face negotiations between government and opposition groups could be “a step toward stability and security of Syria.”
The Sochi meeting took place a week before the beginning of UN-led peace talks in Geneva. It came days after Syrian forces resumed control over the eastern city of Abu Kamal that was the last stronghold of the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group.
The demise of IS, which was announced by President Rouhani on Nov. 21, has raised hopes that a dialogue-based solution could eventually end the regional conflicts.
