Syria's President Bashar al-Assad heads a meeting of his new cabinet in Damascus August 31, 2014. (Reuters/Handout via Reuters)

(TASS) The issue of the political future of Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, should be a matter of discussion at the talks on Syria in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana, German Foreign Ministry spokesman, Martin Schaefer, said on Monday.

“The issue of Assad’s political future and the role of opposition groups in forming the transitional government should be discussed in Astana,” he said.

“From our point of view, it is important to make sure that the initiatives announced by Russia, Iran and Turkey, namely, the intention to bring together representatives of the government and opposition at the negotiating table are implemented under the auspices and in cooperation with the UN,” Schaefer stressed.

Advertisement

He noted that UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, should remain the key mediator in this process. He admitted that so far the German Foreign Ministry has no idea how the talks in Astana would be later linked to the intra-Syrian consultations earlier held in Geneva.

According to Schaefer, neither Russia nor Turkey are interested in excluding the United Nations from this process. “I think it can hardly be otherwise, as all resolutions on Syria passed at the UN Security Council emphasized the role played by the UN and its special envoy in that process,” he said.

Schaefer added that Assad’s participation in Syria’s transition is possible if his presidential powers are reduced substantially, reiterating that Berlin sees no future for Syria with Assad as the head of state.

 

Share this article:
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
ALSO READ  Syrian Army annihilates ISIS in Homs, reopens all roads between Palmyra and Damascus
 

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

Notice: All comments represent the view of the commenter and not necessarily the views of AMN.

All comments that are not spam or wholly inappropriate are approved, we do not sort out opinions or points of view that are different from ours.

If your comment is held for moderation, please just be patient, it will be published unless it falls into one of the two categories as mentioned above.

16 COMMENTS

  1. Rubbish, last comment from Germany which reflects Obama and Hitlery’s ideas.It is only Germans who make decisions about their leaders.Their opinions concerning who rules Syria is as good as a pile of German Gabbage!

  3. President Assad has earned his right to offer himself to the Syrian people in any future election.

    Without the fortitude of President Assad Syria would have been part of the Saudi Takfiri Califate by now and tens of millions of Syrians would have been enslaved and brutally murdered.

  4. It’s not to Germany or anyone but Syrian people to decide through next presidential elections. These might be reviewed by the UN but nobody else has any right to decide, period! If Syrians want him to stay (and if he wants to run for next election), why should anybody have a say about it?

  6. “…Berlin sees no future for Syria with Assad as the head of state…”

    It would seem to most people that Berlin’s opinion on this subject is totally irrelevant. Only the Syrian people may decide whether they want Bashar al-Assad to remain head of state or not. The last German colony that we know of was Slovakia, during the good times of nazism. Syria is a sovereign country whose sovereign people are the only people whose opinion matters in such an affair. So, Mr. Martin Schaefer, please keep your mouth shut…

  7. Yeah, and whilst at it why don’t we also discuss the German weapons found with the jihadists in E-Aleppo. These numbskulls still don’t get what “Hands off Syria” means. Morons.

  8. Hot air. He would be still a philosopher if he had kept his mouth shut.
    p.s. Germany did not give support to the armed mercenaries of the “Friends of Syria” but nevertheless the German government should now refrain from carrying these losers case. BTW: As seen in the US and some other countries like France and Syria – the presidential democracy system is no good. So the presidential powers are to be reduced substantially in all three countries. While Assad has the right to stay until the end of his current term – and if he is reelected by the Syrians for as long as the Syrian constitution allows. If he wants to continue! The Syrian opposition outside Syria currently has no person more popular inside Syria then Assad. And even if Assad is also unpopular with many. Presidents are elected by majority vote. Most of the professional oppositionists are as sectarian as the foreign mercenaries that fought the SAA. And they have proven that they only hang on wasta from foreign powers not popular support inside Syria. Foreign powers that have their own business not democracy for Syria in mind.

  9. Germany should shut up about the future of another country. Should the Syrian government interfere who should be the next German chancellor? No. Germany has been supporting Salafist head chopping thugs in Syria for nearly six years and therefore should stand trial in a court of law. By their actions this government is in fact also responsable for these acts of terror in Germany and elsewhere in the world. One word: treason!

  12. “François doit partir”. With my foot in his ass.
    François, what would you think if the syrian people would say : get out.
    Your country is in a bankruptcy state, like Greek.
    But by pointing a country in war, your voters didnt think they will be in trouble soon. François, you are the shame of Europe.

  13. Angela : your mouth is bigger than your ass.
    Tell us if you avoid just one syrian child to drown?
    Where are the ships of Bundeswehr to avoid this ?
    May be in the Leman see trying to fuck Switzerland?