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Turkey’s position on Assad no obstacle for work in Astana format — Russian envoy

Bashar Assad won the presidential polls in Syria in May with 95.1% of the vote

NUR-SULTAN, July 9. /TASS/. Turkey’s refusal to recognize the results of presidential elections in Syria and the victory of Bashar Assad is no obstacle to the work in the Astana format, Russian Presidential Special Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev said in an interview with TASS. 

"After all, Bashar Assad has led the country through ten years of this crisis and has brought it out of it. He did not let terrorists seize Syria, despite the real threat of this. That is why the president enjoys this trust. Many don’t want to see it, including Turkey. It is their right but it in no way hinders our work in the Astana format," he said.

He recalled that apart from Turkey, a number of other countries, including the United States and France, had not recognized the Syrian polls. In any case, according to the Russian diplomat, Russian observers who monitored the elections in Syria confirmed that Assad enjoyed the serious support of the people. "Many other European countries claim that the election was allegedly falsified. Many complaints have been made. But I would say this, refraining however from citing concrete figures: it was evident, and our observers at the presidential elections in Syria confirmed it, that President Assad had a lot of supporters, supporters of his policy and of him personally," Lavrentyev noted.

Assad won the presidential polls in Syria in May with 95.1% of the vote. The presidential office term, under the national constitution, is seven years. The previous presidential elections took place in 2014 and Assad scored 88.7% of the vote.

Ahead of the Syrian elections, the United Kingdom, the United States, France and Italy called on the international community not to recognize the outcome, saying that these elections would not encourage progress in the settlement of the political crisis in the country.