US and Russia hold talks on Syria ceasefire ahead of UN meeting
UN Syria envoy says February 25 resumption of talks not realistic
Pentagon asked Russia to avoid Syrian areas with US commandos
Media rights group calls on Turkey to release Syrian journalist
Russia warns Assad on vow to retake all of Syria
EU to hold migration summit with Turkey in early March
Turkish FM criticizes US statements on Ankara blast
United States and Russia hold talks on Syria ceasefire ahead of UN meeting
On Friday, US and Russian military officials held talks in Geneva ahead of a wider meeting aimed at trying to secure a cessation of hostilities in Syria, diplomats said. The unannounced bilateral meeting was aimed at narrowing positions before the two powers jointly chair a UN meeting on the issue, they said, declining to give details. “The idea of the whole exercise is for Russia and the United States to have a joint view. The UN will apparently promote a ceasefire and implementation, and will negotiate with the parties,” a diplomat said. UN spokesman Michele Zaccheo said the larger meeting of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) would take place at the UN on Friday afternoon. [Reuters, BBC, 2/19/2016]
UN Syria envoy says February 25 resumption of talks not realistic
UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura has warned that the planned resumption of troubled peace talks next week was not realistic, a Swedish newspaper reported Friday. “I cannot realistically call for new Geneva talks starting on February 25,” de Mistura was quoted as telling the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper. “We need ten days of preparations and invitations. But we will aim to do this soon,” he said. Ahmed Fawzi, interim Director of the UN Information Service in the Swiss city, said de Mistura is trying to convince those with influence over the warring parties to persuade them to come to the table and “stop the madness.” [Reuters, AFP, AP, 2/19/2016]
Pentagon asked Russia to avoid Syrian areas with US commandos
US military officials said on Thursday the Pentagon has asked Russia to stay away from parts of northern Syria where US special operations troops are training local fighters to combat the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL). The Pentagon has repeatedly stressed it is not cooperating with Moscow as the two powers lead separate air campaigns in war-ravaged Syria. Lieutenant General Charles Brown said US officials had asked Moscow to avoid “broad areas [in northern Syria] to maintain a level of safety for our forces that are on the ground.” He added that Moscow had asked the US-led coalition to avoid some of the airfields the Russian military is using. “They don’t want us flying close,” Brown said. “Typically, we don’t fly there anyway. So, that hasn’t been an issue.” Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said Russia had honored the request and stressed that the Pentagon only provided broad geographic descriptions of US troop deployment, not their precise location. [AFP, 2/19/2016]
Media rights group calls on Turkey to release Syrian journalist
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Friday urged Turkey to release a Syrian journalist who was raised in Britain and has lived for five years in Turkey, was detained by the Turkish immigration authorities on Wednesday after applying for residency. CPJ said Rami Jarrah had been detained in the southern city of Gaziantep and that he had been questioned about his reporting, but the reasons for his detention were unclear. Nina Ognianova, CPJ coordinator, said “Syrian journalists like Jarrah, who have turned to Turkey for safe refuge, should be protected rather than subjected to detention and harassment.” [AP, BBC, Guardian, 2/19/2016]
Russia warns Assad on vow to retake all of Syria
Russia’s envoy to the UN on Friday warned President Bashar Assad over his vow to retake all of Syria, saying he faced dire consequences if he did not comply with Moscow over the peace process. “Russia has invested very seriously in this crisis, politically, diplomatically and now also militarily,” Vitaly Churkin said. “Therefore we would like Assad also to respond to this,” he said, adding that the Syrian leader’s stance “is not in accord with the diplomatic efforts that Russia is making.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “everyone including President Putin recognizes that there is no alternative other than a political resolution.” In an interview last week, Assad defiantly pledged to retake the whole of the country, speaking before the plan for a nationwide “cessation of hostilities” in Syria was announced. [AFP, 2/19/2016]
EU to hold migration summit with Turkey in early March
The European Union has called an extraordinary summit with Turkey for early March to coordinate efforts to stem the flow of migrants across the Aegean into Greece. EU Council President Donald Tusk said early Friday that the EU’s “joint action plan with Turkey remains a priority and we must do all we can to succeed.” A precise date has not been set for the summit as the meeting still has not been discussed with Turkey but it is likely to take place in the first week of March. EU leaders meeting in Brussels also unanimously opposed “unilateral actions” by member states after Austria said it would cap the daily number of asylum claims. European migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos warned in a letter to Vienna that such plans would “be plainly incompatible” with EU law and Austria should reconsider them. Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann hit back strongly at his fellow EU leaders and said he would not postpone the asylum cap. [AP, Daily Sabah, 2/19/2016]
Turkish FM criticizes US statements on Ankara blast
US State Department spokesperson John Kirby has said Washington cannot “confirm or deny” whether the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) were responsible for the February 17 attack on Ankara that claimed 28 lives. “We’re in no position to confirm or deny the assertions made by the Turkish government with respect to responsibility,” Kirby told reporters during a press briefing on February 18. Kirby said the US administration recognized Turkey’s right to protect its people in the face of terrorist attacks.” In response to a question asking whether it would be “warranted or acceptable” for Turkey to respond to the attack by hitting the YPG in Syria, Kirby said this was an “open question.” Kirby stressed that the US kept communicating with the YPG to “not do things that are counterproductive” to the effort against ISIS while urging Turkey not to engage in cross-border shelling. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has accused the United States of making conflicting statements as, in a departure from Washington’s official position, State John Kerry had told him the Kurdish insurgents could not be trusted. [Reuters, Hurriyet, Today’s Zaman, 2/19/2016]