Armed Syrian opposition, 'noncombatant' groups should have roughly equal representation at Geneva talks - Russian expert
MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - The armed Syrian opposition, which has taken part in the Astana meeting, should definitely be represented at the Geneva negotiations proportionately to the other groups, academic head of the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Oriental Studies Vitaly Naumkin told Interfax in an interview.
"To my mind, the armed opposition should certainly be represented, and its representation should be approximately proportionate to that of 'noncombatant' groups," he said.
"Lots of armed opposition units, 14 groups in all, were represented in Astana. I do not think all of these groups can be represented in Geneva, as the number of participants is limited for obvious reasons," he said.
"There should be a principal functional group, and it may be accompanied by teams of experts not formally having status as delegation members," he said.
The involvement of Syrian Kurds remains a key problem of the Geneva talks, Naumkin said.
"The Kurds would like to constitute a separate element of the opposition delegation. Other groups refuse to accept that. And besides, Turkey is strongly objecting to engaging representatives of the Democratic Union Party and the local self-government of the 'Republic of Rojava and Northern Syria' and is threatening to block the negotiations," Naumkin said.