Since the peace talks in Astana ended, meaningful progress has been made towards the settlement of the Syrian crisis. The guarantor countries managed to do impossible – to make Syrian government and the armed opposition sit down at one table to discuss the current situation in the country.
As a result of the talks in Astana, all sides have stated in final statement that they have common views to monitor the ceasefire process, they also achieved the agreement on setting up trilateral mechanism to monitor the ceasefire in Syria. In addition, the Russian delegation proposed a draft of a new Syrian constitution for its further discussion with the Syrian government, the opposition, and the countries in the region.
Most of the Syrian experts agree that this project might be a starting point for discussions in Syria, in which the warring parties should direct their efforts not at empty talks, and at the discussion of the real future of their country.
Despite the fact that the armed opposition’s reaction on the proposed draft constitution was critical, it is becoming clear that occurrence of one of the possible variants of the constitution is only aimed at the earliest settlement of the conflict. Today, when the ceasefire is generally respected, it is the best of times to define a clear plan of further actions, including the discussion of the future political system of the country.
It should be mentioned that on February 7, the second meeting of the operational group, which controls the ceasefire regime in Syria, was held in Astana. At the meeting the group was discussing and solving specific problems of the ceasefire at those sectors of the front, where it is possible. At this time, Jordan joined the meeting in the capital of Kazakhstan. Its participation could play an important role in resolving the conflict.
Of course, lots of controversial issues arise in the discussion of the Syrian problem, but the continuation of the talks is a great progress by itself. Over time, everything that causes the contradiction could be solved in cooperation with Russia, Iran, Turkey and Jordan.
It is known that at the second meeting it was not discussed a question of the draft constitution, however, it is planned to bring it to the agenda of the next meeting in Astana, which is scheduled for mid-February. However, we can already say that this project has the potential to become a full-fledged basis for a future constitution, which will be developed by the Syrians.
