Lavrov urges UN envoy to invite Kurds to Syria peace talksMarch 11, 2016 - 17:08 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday, March 11 urged the UN's special envoy on Syria to include Kurds in upcoming talks that aim to resolve the five-year Syrian civil war, AFP reports. "I am convinced that Staffan de Mistura should take such a decision," Lavrov told reporters at a joint news conference with his Chinese counterpart. "Launching negotiations without the participation of this group would be a sign of weakness from the international community," Lavrov said. Russia's top diplomat argued that holding talks on forming a new ruling structure in Syria to prepare constitutional reform and elections without Kurds would be "a most serious infringement of the rights of a large and significant group living in Syria." Kurds are "allies both of the U.S. coalition and Russia" and control at least 15 percent of Syrian territory," Lavrov added, according to AFP. Lavrov hit out at Turkey, saying that "only Turks are blocking the invitation of Kurds from the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD)," criticising this as "an ultimatum." Turkey accuses the PYD of being the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |