The Presidents:

1. Discussed the current situation on the ground in Syria, reviewed the developments following their last meeting in Sochi on 14 February 2019 and reiterated their determination to enhance the trilateral coordination in light of their agreements.

2. Emphasized their strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic as well as to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. They highlighted that these principles should be universally respected and that no actions, no matter by whom they were undertaken, should undermine them.

3. Reaffirmed in this regard the necessity to respect universally recognized international legal decisions, including those provisions of the relevant UN resolutions rejecting the occupation of Syrian Golan, first and foremost UN Security Council Resolution 497 and thus condemned the decision of the US Administration on the occupied Syrian Golan, which constitutes a grave violation of international law and threatens regional peace and security. They consider Israeli military attacks in Syria as destabilizing and violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of this country and intensifying the tension in the region.

4. Discussed the situation in the north-east of Syria, emphasized that security and stability in this region can only be achieved on the basis of respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country and agreed to coordinate their efforts to this end.

5. Rejected in this regard all attempts to create new realities on the ground under the pretext of combating terrorism, including illegitimate self-rule initiatives, and expressed their determination to stand against separatist agendas aimed at undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria as well as threatening the national security of neighboring countries.

6. Reviewed in detail the situation in the Idlib de-escalation area and underscored the necessity to respect calm on the ground by fully implementing all agreements on Idlib, first and foremost the Memorandum of 17 September 2018. They are alarmed about the risk of further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in and around the area as a result of continued escalation and agreed to take concrete steps to reduce violations. They expressed serious concern with the increased presence of the terrorist organization “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham” in the area and reaffirmed the determination to continue cooperation in order to ultimately eliminate DAESH/ISIL, Al-Nusra Front and all other individuals, groups, undertakings and entities associated with Al-Qaeda or DAESH/ISIL, and other terrorist groups, as designated by the UN Security Council. While deploring civilian casualties and displacement of people, they agreed to undertake concrete measures, based on the previous agreements, to ensure the protection of the civilian population in accordance with the international humanitarian law as well as the safety and security of the military personnel of the guarantors within and outside the Idlib de-escalation area.

7. Reaffirmed their conviction that there could be no military solution to the Syrian conflict and that it could only be resolved through the Syrian-led and Syrian-owned, UN-facilitated political process in line with the UN Security Council Resolution 2254.

8. Expressed their satisfaction with the successful completion of the work on the composition of the Constitutional Committee and reiterated their support to the efforts of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria Geir O. Pedersen to achieve agreement between the Syrian parties on the rules of procedure. They reaffirmed their readiness to facilitate the launching of the Constitutional Committee in Geneva in accordance with the decisions of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi.

9. Emphasized the need to increase humanitarian assistance to all Syrians throughout the country without preconditions. In order to alleviate the suffering of the Syrians and support the progress in the process of the political settlement, they called upon members of the international community, the United Nations and its humanitarian agencies to undertake greater responsibility in burden-sharing and to enhance their assistance to Syria, inter alia by developing early recovery projects, including the restoration of basic infrastructure assets – water and power supply facilities, schools and hospitals as well as the humanitarian mine action.

10. Highlighted the need to facilitate safe and voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their original places of residence in Syria, ensuring their right to return and right to be supported. In this regard, they called upon the international community to provide appropriate contributions for their resettlement and normal life, and reaffirmed their readiness to continue interaction with all relevant parties, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other specialized international agencies. They agreed to coordinate their initiatives to organize international conferences on the humanitarian assistance to Syria and the return of Syrian refugees.

11. Welcomed the participation of Iraq and Lebanon as new observers of the Astana format.

12. In addition to the Syrian issue, discussed recent regional and international developments as well as their collaboration in different fields and reiterated their decision to promote joint economic and commercial cooperation.

13. Decided to hold the next Tripartite Summit in the Islamic Republic of Iran upon the invitation of President of the Islamic Republic of Iran H.E. Hassan Rouhani.

14. The Presidents of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation expressed their sincere gratitude to President of the Republic of Turkey H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for hosting the Tripartite Summit in Ankara.

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The Islamic Republic of Iran, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey as guarantors of the Astana format:

1. Reaffirmed their strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic and to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter;

2. Reaffirmed in this regard the respect for universally recognized international legal decisions, including those provisions of the relevant UN resolutions rejecting the occupation of Syrian Golan, first and foremost UN Security Council resolution 497;

3. Reviewed in detail the situation in the Idlib de-escalation area and highlighted the necessity to establish calm on the ground by fully implementing all agreements on Idlib, first and foremost the Memorandum of 17 September 2018. They expressed serious concern with the increased presence of the terrorist organization “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham” in the area and reaffirmed the determination to continue cooperation in order to ultimately eliminate DAESH/ISIL, Al-Nusra Front and all other individuals, groups, undertakings and entities associated with Al-Qaeda or DAESH/ISIL, and other terrorist groups, as designated by the UN Security Council. While deploring civilian casualties, they agreed to undertake concrete measures, based on the previous agreements, to ensure the protection of the civilian population in accordance with the international humanitarian law as well as the safety and security of the military personnel of the guarantors present within and outside the Idlib de-escalation area;

4. Discussed the situation in the north-east of Syria and emphasized that long-term security and stability in this region can only be achieved on the basis of respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country;

5. Rejected in this regard all attempts to create new realities on the ground under the pretext of combating terrorism, including illegitimate self-rule initiatives, and expressed their determination to stand against separatist agendas aimed at undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria as well as threatening the national security of neighboring countries;

6. Expressed their conviction that there could be no military solution to the Syrian conflict and reaffirmed their commitment to advance the Syrian-led and Syrian-owned, UN-facilitated political process in line with the UN Security Council resolution 2254 and the decisions of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi;

7. Held detailed consultations on the trilateral basis as well as with the representatives of the Office of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria Geir O. Pedersen on the conclusion of formation and launching of the Constitutional Committee in Geneva, in accordance with the decisions of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi. They expressed satisfaction with the progress made on finalization of the composition and the rules of procedure of the body and reiterated their readiness to facilitate the convening of the committee as soon as possible;

8. Welcomed the fourth successful operation on mutual release of detainees/abductees held on 31 July 2019 within the framework of the respective Working Group of the Astana format. They underscored that the Working Group was a unique mechanism, that had proved to be effective and necessary for building confidence between the Syrian parties, and agreed to take measures to continue and step up its work;

9. Emphasized the need to increase humanitarian assistance to all Syrians throughout the country without preconditions. In order to support the improvement of the humanitarian situation in Syria and the progress in the process of the political settlement, they called upon the international community, the United Nations and its humanitarian agencies, to enhance the assistance to Syria, inter alia by developing early recovery projects, including the restoration of basic infrastructure assets – water and power supply facilities, schools and hospitals as well as the humanitarian mine action. They also discussed the idea and exchanged views on the perspectives of holding the International Conference on the Humanitarian Assistance to Syria;

10. Highlighted the need to facilitate safe and voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their original places of residence in Syria, ensuring their right to return and right to be supported. In this regard they called upon the international community to provide appropriate contributions and reaffirmed their readiness to continue interaction with all relevant parties, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other specialized international agencies;

11. Welcomed the participation of the delegations of Iraq and Lebanon as new observers of the Astana format. They expressed their conviction that the observers (Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon) would contribute to the efforts to bring peace and stability in Syria;

12. Expressed their sincere gratitude to the Kazakh authorities for hosting in Nur-Sultan the 13th International Meeting on Syria in the Astana format;

13. Decided to hold the next International Meeting on Syria in the Astana format in Nur-Sultan in October 2019.

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The Iranian envoy warned that continued terrorist presence in the Syrian territory is endangering civilian lives.

The meeting was held amid a recent escalation in clashes in the province after the Syrian Arab Army launched an operation to counter numerous flagrant terrorist violations of an earlier de-escalation agreement. Under the agreement, which was signed between Russia and Turkey last year, Takfiri groups in Idlib had to withdraw from areas bordering Syrian government-controlled territory, which they refused to do.

Here is the full text of his speech:

Mr. President,

I thank you for organizing this meeting.

Along with other Guarantors of the Astana Format, the Islamic Republic of Iran continues to support keeping Idlib as a de-escalation area.

This approach is based on a reality and a fundamental principle: there are a large number of civilians there whose lives must be saved.

At the same time, certain questions are in order: can and should this situation continue indefinitely? Should the Government allow these internationally designated terrorist groups continue their control over its territory? Should the International community allow such terrorist groups to take a large number of civilians as their hostage?

The answer is clear: the establishment of the Idlib de-escalation area was only a temporary measure with the exclusive objective of protecting civilians, not providing terrorist groups with a safe heaven. It does not limit the right of Syrian Government to fight Security Council designated terrorists, which of course have to be carried out in accordance with International Humanitarian Law. Therefore, both, defeating terrorists and releasing civilians are necessary.

Current situation in Idlib under which the most dangerous terrorist groups are allowed to use over two million civilian as human shields, continue their control over a large part of a sovereign State’s territory, and conduct their operations therefrom attacking both military and civilian targets beyond that area cannot and must not continue definitely.

Persistence of this situation would enable terrorists to kill more civilians. This is in contradiction with the objective of the Idlib de-escalation area’s creation. We should be vigilant enough not to confuse the protection of civilians with the protection of terrorists.

Continuation of current state of affairs in Idleb would further interrupt the restoration of Government’s control over all its territory and securing the safety and security of all its citizens, prevent the return of refugees and internally displaces persons, delay the country’s reconstruction, and hamper the political solution, all of which are inherently interlinked.

In conclusion, I would like to stress once again the need for full respect by all to sovereignty, political independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria. As underlined in the Joint Statement of recent meeting of the Guarantors of the Astana Format in Nur-Sultan on 25-26 April 2019, no action, no matter by whom, should undermine these principles. In this context, the Guarantors of the Astana Format also rejected all attempts to create new realities on the ground under the pretext of combating terrorism. Therefore, the US must put an immediate end to its illegal military presence in parts of Syria.

With this in mind, the Syrian Government must be assisted in the formation of the Constitutional Committee facilitated by the SRSG Pedersen, whose efforts enjoy our support. We encourage him to further strengthen its direct consultation with the Government of Syria.

As stated in the aforesaid Joint Statement, there is no military solution to the Syrian conflict and the only option is to advance the Syrian-led and Syrian-owned, UN-facilitated political process. Ultimately, the right to determine the future of Syria belongs exclusively to Syrians themselves. We must genuinely support the realization of this objective.

I thank you, Mr. President.

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