Germany Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has made an interesting outlook on the Astana process in his speech during the Foreign Ministers' Meeting of the Group of 20s (G20) in Bonn.

Gabriel said he would support efforts to seek political solutions under the auspices of the United Nations and stated that the talks to be done should be in Geneva and should not has "parallel consultations". "Parallel solution for Syria should not be sought," Gabriel said, not the Astana trio (Turkiye, Iran, Russia), but the UN should seek a solution to the Syrian crisis. The foreign ministers of the United States, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Britain and France joined the special Syrian negotiations in Bonn.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault also stressed that the Geneva talks could not be successful if Russia did not use its influence over Damascus and Iran, and did not give up trying to label the regime opponents as "terrorists".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov explained that the Syrian peace talks held in Kazakhstan's capital Astana under the leadership of Russia and Turkiye were also supported by the United States. Astana negotiations ended in mutual accusations before a joint statement was prepared on Thursday.

The handling of political solutions in Astana has been criticized by Western and Arab countries for advocating that the only solution can be achieved through the mediation of the UN. UN Special Representative for Syria Staffan de Mistura announced that negotiations between the Syrian groups, which were interrupted 9 months ago, will continue in Geneva on 23 February. Mistura's spokesman said that it was not yet certain which groups would join the Geneva talks, but that the positive responses of the deputies were given. (ILKHA)