Iraq Intends to Participate in Astana Process

Baghdad intends to become part of the Astana process aimed at resolving situation in Syria.

This was stated by Iraqi Ambassador to Russia Haydar Mansour Hadi at a meeting with the head of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Federation Council, Konstantin Kosachev, on December 12, TASS reported.

“As an ambassador of my country, I want to ask the Russian leadership to invite Iraq to attend the talks in Astana,” he said.

We believe that our experience and our help will be needed in the political process to resolve the Syrian crisis, the diplomat added.

The seventh international meeting focused on approving the provision on a working group on the release of hostages, prisoners, the transfer of bodies of the dead and the search for missing persons. The parties also considered combating international terrorism and humanitarian demining in Syria.

Guarantors of a nationwide Syrian ceasefire regime – Russia, Turkey and Iran – had agreed on May 4 in the Kazakh capital, Astana, to establish “de-escalation zones” in war-torn Syria. De-escalation zones in Syria allowed to significantly reduce the scale of the conflict and contributed to the improvement of the humanitarian situation in Syria.

While the Astana process is separate from the UN’s Geneva talks on Syrian crisis, the attendance of the UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura links the Kazakh platform to broader international efforts.