the Syria Foreign Ministry building
On May 26, the Syria Foreign Ministry handed a list containing names of members of the committee tasked with discussing the current constitution to Russian and Iranian ambassadors in Damascus, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).
The establishment of this committee was one of the main results of the Syrian National Dialogue Conference held in January.
“Foreign and Expatriates Ministry in the Syrian Arab Republic has handed the ambassadors of the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran in Damascus respectively a list of the members’ names of the committee tasked with discussing the current constitution whom the Syrian government supports,” a Syrian diplomat told the SANA.
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad agreed to send representatives to the Syrian constitutional committee during a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on May 17. Prior to the meeting, the Damascus government refused to name its representatives likely due to the instable situation around the city of Damascus back then.
Later on May 24, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov confirmed that the Damascus government will hand over a list of its representatives to the constitutional committee to the UN within two days.
So far, Russia, Iran, Turkey and France have voiced their support to the constitutional committee that will operate in the framework of the UN and the Geneva process. However, local observers believe that the committee’s mission will fail due to the strong influence of the US over the representatives of the Syrian opposition in Geneva.
