Iran, Russia, and Turkey have held a trilateral summit on the Syria peace process, condemning foreign meddling and emphasizing Syrians’ right to determine their country’s fate.
The seventh summit of the Astana process was held on Tuesday in Tehran, attended by Iranian President Seyed Ebrahim Rayeesi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Addressing the event, Rayeesi said Syria’s fate had to be decided by its own people and that military intervention will only aggravate the situation there.
“Nearly 11 years have passed since the onset of the Syrian crisis, the Islamic Republic of Iran still believes that the only solution to the Syrian crisis is political, and military action is not only ineffective, but will worsen the situation,” he added.
“As Guarantor States of the Astana Process, we have always supported the political solution within the framework of the agreements reached, including holding the Syrian constitutional negotiations,” the president stated.
Rayeesi also denounced the US’ unilateral sanctions that “have put additional pressure on the Syrian people and deprived them of the possibility of a normal life”.
The Islamic Republic condemns all sanctions targeting the world’s nations, “especially the Syrian nation, declares that it will continue to support the people and government of Syria with greater strength”, he continued.
He went on to say that the illegal presence of the US forces “has destabilized Syria and the region”, adding, “The US, while increasing its illegal military bases, is looting natural resources of Syria, especially its oil.”
He called on the United States to withdraw its forces “from the entire region, including from Syria, as soon as possible”.
“We also strongly condemn the increase in the scope of the Zionist regime’s encroachments on Syrian territory and the targeting of the country’s basic infrastructure, including airports and ports,” Rayeesi noted.
Such actions violate the sovereignty of Syria, increase instability and threaten regional and international peace and security, he said, adding the occupying regime itself will suffer the consequences.
He called on the UN Security Council to fulfill its duties “in this regard before the aggression of the Zionist regime becomes a major security problem”.
The Astana process was launched in 2017 at the initiative of Tehran, Moscow and Anakara on how to reduce tensions in Syria.
The Iranian president said the process has obtained some “good achievements” so far, adding, “The responsibility for its preservation and development rests primarily on us, friendly countries, as its guarantors”.
“We emphasized our determination to fight terrorism in its various forms in the entire region, including Syria,” he stressed.
He highlighted the sacrifices made in the fight against terrorism, commemorating the memory of those who had lost their lives down this path, most notably Iran’s senior anti-terror commander, Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.
The US terrorist forces assassinated General Soleimani, who was among the key figures in the fight against terrorism in Syria and Iraq in the past several years, and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s pro-government Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) in an airstrike ordered by former US President Donald Trump at Baghdad’s international airport in January 2020.
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The Russian president also addressed the event, condemning the West for plundering Syria’s natural wealth with the intention of disintegrating the country.
Putin also called on the UN to provide humanitarian aid to Damascus without any preconditions.
Concerning advancement of a political solution to Syria’s crisis, he stated, “Good steps must be taken in order to help inclusive dialog so that the Syrians would be able to determine their fate without external interference.”
Concluding his remarks, the Russian head of state considered the seventh summit to have been fruitful.
The Turkey’s president also called the Astana process the only platform that had taken necessary measures for peace in Syria.
“We are all like-minded concerning [the fact] that the Syrian crisis can only be resolved through political solutions,” Erdogan added.
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The summit ended by issuance of a final statement, through which, the Astana process’s guarantor states likewise insisted that there were no military solutions to the Syrian conflict, and underlined their resolve to continue their cooperation in the fight against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
Here is the full text of the joint statement:
Joint Statement by the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the President of the Russian Federation, and the President of the Republic of Türkiye, Tehran, July 19, 2022
The Presidents of Iran, Russia and Turkey:
- Discussed the current situation on the ground in Syria, reviewed the developments following the last virtual summit on 1 July 2020 and reiterated their determination to enhance the trilateral coordination in light of their agreements as well as the conclusions of foreign ministers and representatives’ meetings. Also, examined the latest international and regional developments and emphasized the leading role of the Astana Process in peaceful and sustainable settlement of the Syrian crisis;
- Emphasized their unwavering commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic as well as to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. Highlighted that these principles should be universally respected and that no actions, no matter by whom they were undertaken should undermine them;
- Expressed their determination to continue working together to combat terrorism in all forms and manifestations. Condemned increased presence and activities of terrorist groups and their affiliates under different names in various parts of Syria, including the attacks targeting civilian facilities, which result in loss of innocent lives. Highlighted the necessity to fully implement all arrangements related to the North of Syria;
- Rejected all attempts to create new realities on the ground under the pretext of combating terrorism, including illegitimate self-rule initiatives, and expressed their determination to stand against separatist agendas aimed at undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria as well as threatening the national security of neighboring countries including through cross-border attacks and infiltrations;
- Discussed the situation in the North of Syria, emphasized that security and stability in this region can only be achieved on the basis of preservation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country and decided to coordinate their efforts to this end. Expressed their opposition to the illegal seizure and transfer of oil revenues that should belong to Syria;
- Reaffirmed the determination to continue their ongoing cooperation in order to ultimately eliminate terrorist individuals, groups, undertakings and entities, while ensuring the protection of the civilians and civilian infrastructure in accordance with the international humanitarian law;
- Reviewed in detail the situation in the Idlib de-escalation area and underscored the necessity to maintain calm on the ground by fully implementing all agreements on Idlib. Expressed their serious concern over the presence and activities of terrorist groups that pose threat to civilians inside and outside the Idlib de-escalation area. Agreed to make further efforts to ensure sustainable normalization of the situation in and around the Idlib de-escalation area, including the humanitarian situation;
- Expressed grave concern at the humanitarian situation in Syria and rejected all unilateral sanctions which are in contravention of international law, international humanitarian law and the UN Charter including, among other things, any discriminatory measures through waivers for certain regions which could lead to this country’s disintegration by assisting separatist agendas. In this regard, called upon the international community, particularly the UN and its humanitarian agencies and other governmental/non-governmental international institutions to increase their assistance to all Syrians without discrimination, politicization and preconditions and in a more transparent manner;
- Reaffirmed their conviction that there could be no military solution to the Syrian conflict and that it could only be resolved through the Syrian-led and Syrian-owned, UN-facilitated political process in line with the UN Security Council Resolution 2254. Emphasized in this regard the important role of the Constitutional Committee, created as a result of the decisive contribution of the Astana guarantors and the implementation of the decisions of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi. Reaffirmed the readiness to support the continuous interactions with its members and the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria Geir O. Pedersen as facilitator, in order to ensure the sustainable and effective work of the next sessions of the Constitutional Committee. Expressed the conviction that the Committee in its work should respect the Terms of Reference and Core Rules of Procedure to enable the Committee to implement its mandate of preparing and drafting for popular approval a constitutional reform as well as achieving progress in its work and be governed by a sense of compromise and constructive engagement without foreign interference and externally imposed timelines aimed at reaching general agreement of its members. Underlined the necessity that it should conduct its activities without any bureaucratic and logistical hindrances;
- Reaffirmed their determination to continue operations on mutual release of detainees/abductees within the framework of the respective Working Group of the Astana format. Underscored that the Working Group was a unique mechanism that had proved to be effective and necessary for building confidence between the Syrian parties, and decided to further continue its work on the release of detainees and abductees and expand its operations in line with its mandate on the handover of bodies and identifications of missing persons;
- Highlighted the need to facilitate safe and voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their original places of residence in Syria, ensuring their right to return and right to be supported. In this regard, they called upon the international community to provide appropriate contributions for their resettlement and normal life as well as to undertake greater responsibility in burden-sharing and to enhance their assistance to Syria, inter alia by developing early recovery projects, including basic infrastructure assets especially – water, electricity, sanitation, health, educations, schools, hospitals and etc as well as the humanitarian mine action in accordance with international humanitarian law;
- Condemned the continuing Israeli military attacks in Syria including civilian infrastructures. Considered it as violating the international law, international humanitarian law, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria, and recognized it as destabilizing and intensifying the tension in the region. Reaffirmed the necessity to abide by universally recognized international legal decisions, including those provisions of the relevant UN resolutions rejecting the occupation of Syrian Golan, first and foremost UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 497 which also consider all decisions and measures taken by Israel in this regard null and void and have no legal effect;
- In addition to the Syrian issue, they confirmed their intention to strengthen trilateral coordination in different fields in order to promote joint political and economic cooperation;
- Agreed to assign their representatives with the task of holding the 19th International Meeting on Syria in the Astana format by the end of 2022;
- Decided to hold the next Tripartite Summit in the Russian Federation upon the invitation of President of the Russian Federation, H.E. Vladimir Putin;
- The Presidents of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Türkiye expressed their sincere gratitude to the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran H.E. Seyed Ebrahim Rayeesi for graciously hosting the Tripartite Summit within the framework of Astana format in Tehran.
