A Russian delegation has proposed a draft of the constitution for Syria with the aim to meet the positions of Damascus and the opposition, Sergei Lavrov says

ISTANBUL — The Russian delegation’s draft of the Syrian constitution distributed during the Astana talks proposes 27 amendments to the current constitution of the country, according to the Russian news outlet RBC, which reportedly has managed to get hold of the draft.



Among the proposals is the creation of the Kurdish autonomy.

Recognition of equal standing of the Kurdish and Arabic languages in the Kurdish areas of the country have also been included in the draft.

Another proposal is to grant rights to any other region of the country to establish, in accordance with the law, an official language, which is used by the majority of the population of the region, in addition to the state language.

Decentralization of power and empowering local governments, as well as the creation of a new body called the Assembly of Regions was also included in the draft. Redistribution of presidential powers in favour of the parliament was included under the principle of decentralization.

The proposed draft of the constitution was designed by the Russian delegation with the aim to meet the positions of Damascus and the opposition, said the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov.

"We have distributed the draft of the constitution in Astana, which we have worked on with consideration of all that we had heard over the years from the opposition and the government, and from the countries of the region,” said Lavrov.

The Russian side also proposed to delete the word "Arab" from the full name of the country, rendering it simply the Syrian Republic.

Regarding the future presidential candidates of the country also several proposed amendments were made.The president is no longer obliged to be a Muslim, as required by the current version of the basic law of Syria. Likewise, having parents with Syrian citizenship at birth, and having a spouse of Syrian origin is deemed unnecessary for a presidential candidate under the proposed draft.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs itself did not disclose the contents of the proposed draft. However, the official representative of the Ministry, Maria Zakharova, stressed that Russia does “not impose anything on anyone," adding that "we have repeatedly said that the future of Syria is in the hands of Syrians themselves. For our part, we do everything possible to help them to start a dialogue.”

The talks in Astana concluded on January 24th. The next round of talks will take place in Geneva this February.