Oleksiy Volovych
Ph.D. in History
With different approaches of the participants of the summit it would have been difficult (if possible at all) to come to a common denominator. Disharmony and dissonance in the performance of the participants of the “Istanbul quartet” were inevitable, unfortunately for friends of Syria and for the Syrian people. Magnificent and pathetic declarations are one thing, but real things are absolutely different.
In my opinion, as long as there is no agreement between Washington, Ankara, Moscow, Tehran and Damascus on the basic issues of the settlement of the Syrian crisis, the situation in Syria will remain as it is today, for quite some time, and this — at best.
Today, the question arises — is it possible to reach a compromise between the current government and the opposition after almost 8 years of war? Obviously, today it can't be answered unambiguously, since further development of the situation in Syria depends on many factors.
With a high degree of confidence, one can only forecast one thing: in case of the overthrow of President B. Assad's government by force or as a result of elections by foreign countries' standards, and not in accordance with international law, groups of Islamists openly competing among themselves will come to power in the country. They will be dividing the “laurels of winners” for a very long time, pushing the country into a new round of uncontrolled chaos, as it is today in Libya. However, I would like a common sense and good will to win, and the Syrian conflict to be settled at the negotiating table with the representatives of the current Syrian government. Resolving the fate of Syria in any format without inviting to the negotiating table the legitimate President of the Syrian Arab Republic Bashar Assad is futile and illegal.
The article is available in Ukrainian
