Iraq: We will participate in the Astana meetings on Syria

ARK News: The Iraqi ambassador to Russia, Haider Mansour Hadi al-Athari, said on Wednesday that Baghdad is currently considering who will represent it at meetings of the Astana track about Syria.

The guarantor States reached the track of Astana, Russia, Turkey, and Iran, in round 12 of the talks to an agreement on the invitation of Iraq and Lebanon to participate in the talks as observers.

According to Iraqi websites, Al-Athari said in an interview with Russian journalists: "By virtue of our experience and the depth of history and geography with Syria, Iraq has always sought to play a role in the meetings concerning the Syrian issue.

He continued: “Of course the situation was and is still close to the Russian position that is a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis”, clarifying, however, that Baghdad intends to make its contribution and experience in resolving the crisis in Syria.

In Ankara, Turkish Foreign Minister Mouloud Cavus Oglu said that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed on the need to meet a working group on the northwest of Syria as soon as possible, according to Reuters, without confirming the news from Moscow.

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