'Work on Syrian constitution commission at key phase'

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says there is no conflict over names for commission given by regime and opposition

By Sena Guler

ANKARA (AA) - Work on a commission to revise the Syrian constitution has come to an important phase, said Turkey's foreign minister on Tuesday after a meeting on Syria in Geneva.

There is no conflict over the names suggested for the commission by the Syrian regime and opposition, Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters following a trilateral meeting between the foreign ministers of guarantor countries -- Iran, Russia and Turkey -- and UN Special Syria Envoy Staffan de Mistura at the UN office.

During a Syrian peace conference this January in Sochi, Russia, participants agreed on the formation of a commission to develop recommendations to amend the Syrian constitution.

Last Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia, Turkey and Iran will present a list of candidates for the commission to the UN.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011,, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on protesters with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN officials.

Kaynak: