Ibrahim Kalin, presidential spokesman, said that Turkey had been in the middle of deciding whether to accept or decline the invitation to the congress -- originally set for Nov. 18 -- when news came it had been postponed.
“We found out that the congress was announced as a fait accompli. We immediately objected”, he told news channel NTV. “Afterwards, the Kremlin contacted us and stated that they had postponed this meeting”.
Moscow claimed to have invited all Syrian opposition forces to attend the planned congress in the city of Sochi.
Kalin said that Turkey will not be attending the meetings but may send an observer.
Syrian opposition observers said that Russian invited some Assad regime’s affiliates to the so-called dialogue in Sochi, because Russians want Assad regime to hold talks with its affiliates.
The Turkish government considers the PYD/YPG to be the Syrian offshoot of the PKK, a designated terrorist organization by Turkey and the US, and would object to it attending the conference.
During the last round of Syria peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana late last month, three guarantor countries -- Russia, Turkey and Iran -- agreed to discuss proposals for holding a national dialogue conference.
However, the Syrian opposition’s High Negotiations Committee and the Syrian Coalition of Revolutionary and Opposition Forces both appear to have declined invitations to attend the gathering.
التعليقات (0)