The thirteenth round of the high-level meetings on Syria was held on 1-2
August 2019 in Nur-Sultan. Developments on the ground, particularly in the
Idlib de-escalation area and efforts to find a political solution to the
conflict were discussed in the meeting.
The parties have reiterated their commitment to the Sochi Memorandum of 17
September 2018, in order to preserve Idlib’s de-escalation area status and
to stabilize the region. They deplored the increasing civilian casualties
as a result of the attacks and agreed to take concrete steps for securing
their military personnel in the area. Turkey has expressed grave concern
for regime’s deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure
under the pretext of combating terrorism and has stressed its expectation
that these attacks must cease immediately.
In the meeting, the parties expressed satisfaction on the progress towards
the establishment of the Constitutional Committee. They reiterated their
commitment to conclude the formation of the Committee at the earliest and
to convene it in Geneva. Turkey has reconfirmed its support to the ongoing
efforts to this end, in close coordination with the Syrian opposition and
the United Nations.
The parties rejected separatist agendas that pose threat to the political
unity and territorial integrity of Syria, and to the national security of
the neighboring countries. They further stressed their objection to all
attempts to create new realities on the ground under the pretext of
combating terrorism, including illegitimate self-rule initiatives.
The Working Group on the Release of Detainees/Abductees, Handover of Bodies
and Identification of Missing Persons has also convened in the margins of
the meeting. Turkey has stressed its expectation to respect the Working
Group’s rules of procedure for future operations of mutual and simultaneous
release of persons detained by the opposition groups and the regime.
The parties welcomed the participation of neighbouring countries, Iraq and
Lebanon, for the first time to the high-level meetings on Syria as
observers.