The world did not see such a summit

The presidents of Russia, Turkey, France and the German Chancellor held negotiations on the "Syrian issue"

The Syria summit with the participation of Putin, Erdogan, Merkel and Macron ended on Saturday evening, October 27, in Istanbul. In this format, the world in Syria has never agreed - this, in fact, is the main feature of the meeting, which was also present by the special representative of the UN Secretary General for Syria Staffan de Miscisture. He had previously announced that he would leave this post in November - after a four years of inconclusive peacekeeping efforts. Today's summit has not violated the tradition.

According to the results of the meeting, the parties accepted a joint statement. “The statement reflects the attitude of Russia, Turkey, Germany and France to further expand interaction in the interests of normalizing the situation in Syria, launching effective inter-Siri dialogue and conducting the necessary state reforms and transformations,”-
The Russian president explained.

The parties did not plan to begin the highest goal - real advancement to peace and stability in Syria today.

In front of the summit, all the persons involved in these symbolic negotiations, who took place without the formal participation of two “heavyweights” of the Syrian conflict (USA and Iran), called for “not to wait for breakthroughs” and be content with the very fact of such an unprecedented meeting, which “can give impulse” to further diplomatic efforts.

Everyone is well known about the previous results of these efforts, which have been being made in the spring of 2011, when the first clashes began in Syria: at least 360,000 dead and millions of refugees, most of which were adopted by Turkey, and in Europe - Germany.

In many ways, this is why the Chancellor Merkel took part in today's meeting, initiated by the French President Macron.

For the leadership of France (a country that has survived a series of large terrorist attacks, indirectly or directly related to the Syrian war, but never managed to find a “diplomatic key” to the “Syrian settlement”) the summith in Istanbul has become another attempt to demonstrate its international significance. And jump on a train, which seems to be moving towards the bright political future of Syria.

The proposal of the President of France
The idea of ​​Macron is to join the efforts of two “formats”: “Astana group”, which includes the main military “Results”, (Russia, Turkey, Iran), etc. “Small Group”, composed of the largest “players” of the “anti -terrorism coalition”: USA, France, Great Britain, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.

For the sake of this high goal in May 2018, in St. Petersburg, at a meeting with Putin, President Macron demonstrated the miracles of political correctness, among other things, having examined the “desire of the Russian president” to objectively investigate the tragedy of the Boeing Malaysian, shot down in the sky over the Donbass.

True, the train mentioned above all these years stood on the back of the spare road, while the dictator Assad, with the support of Moscow and Tehran, conquered the lost pieces of the territory, stopping in September a step away from complete victory. To achieve it, it is required to “knock out” about 100 thousand “rebels” supported by Turkey and the USA (i.e., “Western anti-terrorist coalition”), from the enclave in Idlib, the province in the north-west of Syria. Knock or “smoke” with chemical weapons.

This step has not yet been taken-because of the tough position of Western countries and Turkey.

On September 17, in Sochi, during a meeting with Erdogan, Russian President Putin was forced to agree to create a “demilitarized zone” in Idlib, and the ministers of the defense of Turkey and Russia signed a “memorandum of stabilization of the situation in the Idlib de -escalation zone” (in total such zones, according to Astana agreements, 4 of them were created with allies with allied. conquered).

The preservation of the Idlib “zone” was the first political goal of the current “meeting of four”. (According to the results of the summit, the parties confirmed their “commitment” to the performance of this task). In addition, symbolic steps in the “humanitarian sphere” were important for the leadership of France and Germany - for example, a pass of blocked Oonov convoys to Idlib.

The second goal is the next attempt to "start the process of political transition."

All these years, the process has been in a neglected state mainly due to the reluctance of Assad and the Allies to go at least some concessions in the conditions of almost complete military domination. The latest confirmation of this “trend” - on Wednesday, October 24, the refusal of the Syrian regime to approve the Oon representatives of the “Constitutional Committee”, which, according to the UN plan, should develop a new basic law of Syria.

The committee should include 50 representatives of the Assad regime, 50 representatives of the opposition and 50 “experts and representatives of civil society” chosen by the UN.

And just this third list (out of 50 Oonites), brought to Damascus by the special representative of Staffan de Mistura, they refused to coordinate. De Miscist was handed over to the UN Message of the Foreign Minister Valid Muallm: “The Syrian government and Russia recently came to an agreement” that the proposal for the composition of this “third list” should make “three countries - guarantors of the Astana process (Russia, Iran and Türkiye) together with Syria”.

In Washington, this demarche was called "unacceptable" and the emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday. “The United Nations should be able to convene a constitutional committee as soon as possible,” said American representative Jonathan Cohen.

Well, the Russian Permanent Representative Vasily Nonenzya replied: "You can’t go against the will of the people of Syria." As you know, the “legal representative” of this people, according to Moscow, is Bashar Assad (in fact representing only himself and the Alawit minority not exceeding 10-12 % of the total population).

So today's meeting in Istanbul for representatives of the Western Coalition (Macron on the eve of Trump on the eve of Trump) was also an attempt to find out, for the sake of fulfilling what conditions Moscow slows down the process of political settlement and what can be done to make the Kremlin make concessions.

Moscow, obviously, wants to receive a “control package” in the “Constitutional Council” and maintain “its” power in Syria.

In addition, according to the idea of ​​the Russian side, the West should, along with the countries of the Persian Gulf, become a “donor” of the restoration of Syria.

The UN estimates the minimum cost of this case of $ 250 billion.

Only now, “donors” require a “political transition” in Syria to begin with, and in response, they get hints from Moscow that in case of aggravation of the situation in Idlib, a new “outcome” of Syrian refugees in Europe will occur.

On Friday, October 26, that is, on the eve of Istanbul's “Meeting of four”, AFP reported that Assada had bombarded Idlib, 7 civilians were killed, and this is the most severe aggravation of the situation in this region since the Putin-Erdogan agreement.

At the same time, at a press conference, after the summit, Putin “expressed hope” that “the Turkish side will in the near future ensure the completion of the exit of the opposition from the demilitarized zone.” And in the case, “if the radical elements impede” the solution of the problem “to combat terrorism”, “Russia reserves the right to provide effective support for the decisive actions of the Syrian government to eliminate this focus of a terrorist threat.”

Putin also agreed with the sovereign opinion of the Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs (see above), and emphasized that the adoption of the “third list” of participants in the Constitutional Council is “difficult work”, “because each of the parties will strive to saturate this part with those people that they trust.” “We, of course, should hold full-fledged consultations with the Syria government and our partners in Iran, who, as you know, is a side-guarant in the peace process and a ceasefire,” Putin added.

In turn, President Macron played his traditional role and announced "the inadmissibility of the use of chemical weapons." Merkel welcomed the presence of a “common will” for the “solution (Syrian) problem”.

The joint statement following the results of the Istanbul summit says that the parties “called” to create a constitutional council and call him for the first meeting in Geneva “until the end of the year”, “if the conditions allow this”.

On Monday, in London, representatives of Small Group should gather, soon in Geneva Staffan de Miscist plans to gather representatives of the Astana format, and on November 11, the next “historical” meeting of Trump and Putin should take place in Paris.

This morning, the “receiving party” (Emmanuel Macron) discussed the “technical details” of events with Putin on the phone. After the summit, Macron and Putin met in Istanbul also “face to face”.

In the meantime, the situation in Syria continues to develop in accordance with the Russian proverb of the "seven nannies", which have a "child without eye." And this is not at all funny if you imagine how many innocent people have already become victims of the Syrian massacre. And all this happens against the backdrop of smiling presidents, prime ministers and diplomats, who come to the next summit only in order to agree on the next.