Türkiye will support the holding of fair and transparent elections in Syria under the supervision of the United Nations, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Saturday.
"With this aim, the constitutional committee, in the establishment of which we played a leading role, did not achieve a result in nine rounds, we will continue to work together with the guarantor countries to achieve results in the upcoming rounds," Çavuşoğlu said, speaking to representatives of nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and businesspeople in southern Hatay province.
He underlined that significant steps were taken within the Astana process including the prisoner exchange and the constitutional committee, but that no result was achieved.
“If it is not results-oriented, the Astana Platform will weaken and disappear as well.”
The Astana peace process was launched in January 2017 at the initiative of Türkiye, Russia and Iran. Its meetings also contribute to the advancement of the U.N.-led diplomatic process in Geneva. The main agenda items have been the constitutional system, political transition, security and resettlement.
A Security Council resolution adopted in December 2015 unanimously endorsed a road map to peace in Syria that was approved in Geneva on June 30, 2012, by representatives of the U.N., the Arab League, the European Union, Türkiye and all five permanent Security Council members – the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain.
It calls for a Syrian-led political process starting with the establishment of a transitional governing body, followed by the drafting of a new constitution and ending with U.N.-supervised elections. The resolution says the free and fair elections should meet “the highest international standards” of transparency and accountability, with all Syrians – including members of the diaspora – eligible to participate.
Underlining that a political solution is vital for the Syrian crisis, Çavuşoğlu continued: “We say that within the framework of the U.N. Security Council resolution, the regime and the opposition must agree on a roadmap including a constitution and then an election process.”
He added that unity in Syria can only be achieved if the moderate opposition and the regime agree on a roadmap. This would also contribute to enabling displaced Syrians to return securely to their country.
In August, Çavuşoğlu highlighted the necessity of a strong central administration to prevent the disintegration of Syria. While Çavuşoğlu said that he had a quick word with his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement meeting in October in Serbia’s capital Belgrade, the Foreign Ministry underlined that Türkiye would continue to show solidarity with the people of Syria and pursue efforts to find a permanent solution to the Syrian crisis.
The brief encounter marks the first time the top Turkish diplomat interacted with a Syrian regime official, as Türkiye has been backing moderate opposition groups against the Assad regime since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011. Also, Turkish forces carried out several cross-border operations to clear its border from the occupation of the PKK terrorist group's Syrian affiliate, the YPG, and the Daesh terrorist group in order to provide national border security and create a stable environment for local people living near Turkish borders.
Meanwhile, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said similarly earlier this month that he could meet with Assad when the right time comes.
Any normalization between Ankara and Damascus would reshape the decadelong Syrian war. Turkish backing has been vital to sustaining Syrian moderate opposition in their last major territorial foothold in the northwest, after Assad defeated the opposition across the rest of the country aided by Russia and Iran.
