Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced today that negotiations on a political solution to the six-year civil war in Syria will begin on January 23 in the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana, but that they could be threatened if the ceasefire in that country is not respected.
"If we cannot stop the ceasefire violations, the meeting in Astana may fail," Çavuşoğlu told the Turkish news agency Anadolu.
Çavuşoğlu blamed forces supporting the Syrian regime, particularly the Shiite Lebanese movement Hezbollah, for violating the ceasefire that took effect on December 30.
He also called on Iran to pressure Shiite rebels and the Syrian government to stop violating the ceasefire.
Russia and Iran support the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey supports the Syrian opposition.
The head of Turkish diplomacy said that negotiations on a political solution to the Syrian crisis will begin in Astana on January 23, and that Russian experts will come to Turkey on January 9 and 10 as part of preparations for that meeting.
In mid-December, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Turkish and Kazakh Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Nursultan Nazarbayev about the possibility of holding a meeting of the warring parties in the Syrian conflict in Astana.
Nazarbayev supported that proposal, saying that his country "from the beginning supports international efforts aimed at a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Syria."
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