The French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the UN envoy to Syria, Staffan di Mistura, will not invite the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria (PYD) to the talks taking place in Geneva on 29 January.
Fabius told French radio that di Mistura has already sent the invitation and an opposition delegation formed in Riyadh will lead the talks, even if another opposition group participates.
According to Fabuis, the Syrian opposition’s head of negotiating committee, Riyad Hijab, will respond to di Mistura’s invitation Wednesday.
The head of the PYD Salih Muslim confirmed to Reuters that his party did not receive an invitation to attend the talks.
“If we do not participate in Geneva III, it will fail as Geneva II did, when they also excluded many important groups,” Muslim said.
Russia wanted the Kurdish party, which controls large areas in northern Syria, to participate in the opposition delegation, but the opposition group formed in Riydh thinks that the PYD should participate in the regime delegation.
The Saudi-backed opposition delegation will meet in Riyadh to decide who will participate in the Geneva talks.
During preparation for the talks, there were conflicted opinions as to who would represent the opposition.
Russia said it understands that an extensive political dialogue is needed between both sides in Syria in order to pave the way for peace.
“We understand that the way to peace [in Syria] lies through vast political process and dialogue between the legitimate government of Syria and the moderate opposition, plus decisive measures to destroy terrorists,” said the Duma speaker Sergey Naryshkin after a meeting with speaker of the Egyptian House of Representatives Ali Abdel Aal in Cairo.
He added that both Cairo and Moscow share the same view regarding the representation of the opposition in the talks.
The talks in Geneva aim to reach a political solution for the Syrian civil war which, in five years, has resulted in the death of around one million people and the displacement of several million others.
Meanwhile, Egypt condemned the new law issued by the Danish parliament that allows police to seize refugees’ assets.
According to the new Danish law, the police will be able to search Asylum seekers on arrival and take any non-essential items worth more than €1,340. The Danish government said the procedure is intended to cover the cost of receiving refugees.
The Egyptian ambassador to the UN, Amr Ramadan, said Egypt urged the Danish government to repeal the new law stating that it is a violation of the refugees’ rights.
Egypt also expressed its concerns over the increasing hatred toward migrants in Europe, Muslims in particular, urging the Danish government to take the necessary measures to impede NGOs that support discrimination on the basis of race or religion.
The Danish foreign minister justified the new law, saying that the process of seizing the refugees’ money will only be applied to surplus funds and will be used to help other refugees. He also added that the law is compatible with international law.
