The Syrian National Dialogue Congress has begun in Russia’s Sochi today. It is expected that about 1,600 representatives of various political and ethnic groups from Syria will be gathered. The major meetings are scheduled for January 30, 2018.
Despite the fact that the Syrian Negotiation Commission (SNC) announced it would boycott the Congress, many opposition groups have already arrived in Sochi. There are the representatives of the Movement for a Pluralistic Society, Syrian National Council, National Blog, and Syria’s Tomorrow Movement among them. Syrian Kurds also participate in the Sochi talks.
According to sources in the Kurdish delegation, some members of the Kurdish National Council have already had a closed-door meeting with a number of high-level representatives of the Iranian Foreign Ministry on the sidelines of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress.
Despite the lack of the details, the current situation in Syria’s Afrin was apparently discussed after Turkey’s ‘Olive Branch Operation’ had been launched.
The leaders of various Kurdish movements are increasingly recognizing with every passing day the need to review the cooperation terms with the U.S. and to search for new patrons, who are able to guarantee the security and autonomy to the Kurdish areas.