Dr. Kadri Jamil's Statement on the Nonparticipation in the Riyadh Meeting

The Moscow Platform demanded that UN resolutions – especially Security Council Resolution 2254 – be adopted without any explanations or off-context interpretations, as a basis for the negotiating process during which the resolution 2254 should be implemented in full, to begin the process of political transition in Syria through a Syrian-Syrian dialogue between the opposition representatives and the delegation of the regime, without any preconditions, and to put forward all positions and views during the course of the negotiations, giving that the priority is to implement this resolution (2254) on the ground.

Unfortunately, some parties in the Preparatory Committee have insisted on a draft final communiqué, which the Moscow Platform considers to be a departure from the text of Security Council resolution 2254, and would disturb the atmosphere created by the international community through the international consensus achieved so far, and through the de-escalation and cease-fire achieved by Astana path in large areas of the Syrian territories after they have been purged of «Daesh» and «Al-Nusra Front». All of our attempts to reach consensual solutions on some of the disputed points in the final statement did not work.

The Moscow platform considers that the attempt by some opposition parties to use the meeting in Riyadh as a platform to announce their positions and their own political views is a departure from the efforts exerted by Saudi Arabia to contribute to the formation of one delegation based on the recommendations of the Vienna Meeting; a delegation in which all the platforms, referred to in Security Council resolution 2254 and other resolutions, should be represented.

The Moscow platform considers that the political ceiling according to which the one opposition delegation should be formed in the negotiations must be the full implementation of Security Council resolution 2254, which states that during the transitional period a new constitution is to be drafted and passed, and presidential and parliamentary elections to be held under the supervision of the United Nations and under international surveillance, through which the Syrian people decide the form of their political system and who to govern them.

The Moscow platform adheres to these principles, and will continue to struggle to achieve them and end the suffering of the Syrian people.

Dr. Kadri Jamil
Head of the Moscow platform
22/11/2017