Syria's government envoy to talks in Kazakhstan has blasted Turkey for continuing to support terrorist groups in Syria and urged it to withdraw its troops. The head of Syrian delegation and Syria's U.N. ambassador Bashar Ja'afari, also said Turkey's delegation and armed groups, who arrived on Thursday - the last day of the meeting, try to disrupt the negotiations.
Ja'afari said Turkey must take decisive steps to stop foreign jihadists entering Syrian and end its violation of Syrian sovereignty by pulling its troops out if the ceasefire was to take hold on the ground. He made it clear that Turkey has failed to commit to controlling border in light of its responsibility to do so, but has rather facilitated the entry of tens of thousands of terrorists into Syria, stressing that decisive measures should be taken to close the Turkish border in front of the flow of terrorists into Syria.
"Turkey cannot be fanning the flames and be extinguishing them at the same time," Ja'afari said at a press conference. He called on Ankara to withdraw its troops from Syria.
TURKEY AIMS TO DISRUPT ASTANA TALKS
Ja'afari said the armed groups and their Turkish backers had a "clear will to disrupt the Astana meetings", and that Ankara must close its border to jihadist if it was to be a real guarantor of a Turkish-Russian ceasefire agreed at the end of last year.
The arrival of a downgraded Turkish delegation with the militant groups on the last day of the talks in the Kazakh capital also signalled that they were not serious about the talks, he said. "The delegation came with a low representation that does not rise up to what Turkey claims as a guarantor ... and so the Turkish role prompts many question marks over it," Ja'afari added. "Non-adoption of communique here is because Turkey delegation and armed groups were late to the meetings and Turkish opposition to a draft statement. It shows irresponsible attitude," he said.
Turkey, alongside Russia and Iran, is sponsoring talks between the Syrian government and terrorist groups in the Kazakh capital, Astana. A second round of talks was held Thursday, aimed at reinforcing a cease-fire that has technically been in place since December 30.
