MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. The Syrian opposition will consider all useful proposals on the country’s future Constitution but a final draft will be prepared on the basis of the Syrian people’s interests, leader of Syria’s Popular Front for Change and Liberation, representative of the Syrian opposition’s Moscow group Qadri Jamil said on Monday.
"Not this Constitution [the version proposed by Russia] will be offered for a nationwide discussion, for a referendum," he said.
"The Constitutional commission will rely on the Constitution that will meet their interests [the interests of the Syrian people]," he said.
"But we’ll take into account all that is useful in the previous Syrian Constitution, in the Russian, US, Egyptian, Iranian Constitution and we should get acquainted with the experience of others but no Constitution can be imposed," Jamil said.
Russia earlier transferred its proposals on the future Syrian Constitution to representatives of the armed opposition who had attended the Astana talks on January 23-24 and on January 27 it passed over its proposals to representatives of Syria’s external and internal political opposition and to participants in the meeting with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.
Syrian opposition delegation
Syrian opposition delegation at the talks in Geneva may include about 15 people, according to Jamil.
"I do not think that more than 15 people (from the opposition) may take part in the Geneva (talks)," he said.
Jamil noted though that he believes it would be correct to talk not about a single opposition delegation at the Geneva talks, since, in his view, that would mean the existence of a common platform and a combination of different ideas. According to the opposition member, the issue at hand is forming a common opposition delegation, with various opponents of the government in Damascus represented within it.
Syrian Kurds should take part in Geneva talks
Syrian Kurds should participate in the Geneva talks as they have great influence on political environment in the country, Jamil said.
"The Syrian issue demands participation of representatives of all the sides, including Kurds, moreover that they have serious influence on the ground," Jamil said. "The exclusion of Kurds from the Geneva process will have negative consequences as this will push Kurds to greater efforts in creating their own state," he added.
Jamil said earlier Kurds were excluded from the UN-brokered talks in Geneva due to Turkey’s stance. "But Kurds in Syria are our domestic affair and I hope that this time Turkey won’t interfere," he said.
The representative of the Syrian opposition’s Moscow group also said there are various groups of Kurds among the opposition members.
Last week’s talks in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov were attended by both a representative of the Democratic Union Party (supports Kurdish militia that proclaimed unilateral federalization of its territories in April 2016) and a representative of the Kurdish National Council that maintains good relations with Ankara.