Azernews.Az

By Kamila Aliyeva

The sixth round of Syrian peace talks began under the auspices of the UN in the Swiss city of Geneva on May 16 as part of efforts to facilitate a political resolution to the long-lasting Syrian conflict.

Five previous rounds of United Nations-backed negotiations have failed to produce concrete results and hopes for a major breakthrough remain dim.

The parties to the intra-Syrian talks in Geneva are examining the possibility of establishment of a special mechanism for discussing Syria's constitution during the current round of talks in Geneva, sources close to the negotiations process told Sputnik.

The 6th round of Syria talks in Geneva will be organized slightly different compared to the previous ones, as the sides are going to have businesslike intensive meetings and are not going to deliver press stakeouts.

"Technical details of this mechanism have not been coordinated yet. Its composition and work format will be the main topic for the talks in Geneva," a source said, Sputnik reported.

Another source added that a working group for constitutional matters can be created, but the Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) and Damascus delegations are so far skeptical about it.

The fact that constitution is going to be the main topic on the agenda at the sixth round of talks in Geneva was also confirmed to Sputnik by the leader of the Astana platform of Syrian opposition, Randa Kassis.

"De Mistura wants to work on the constitution," Kassis said, when asked what the new round of intra-Syrian talks in Geneva is going to focus on.

The latest round of Geneva talks concluded on March 3, with the parties agreeing on a number of separate "baskets" to be addressed during the next rounds, including the issues of governance, constitution, elections and counterterrorism.

Syria’s warring sides have also attended four rounds of peace talks brokered by Iran, Russia and Turkey in the Kazakh capital, Astana. The Astana talks have recently resulted in a memorandum of understanding on creation of de-escalation zones in Syria.

The civil war in Syria between government and opposition with various terrorist groups involved, including Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL), began back in March 2011.

According to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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