Invitation List Looms as Test for Syria Talks By SOMINI SENGUPTA
NOV. 9, 2015
When world powers gather in Vienna this weekend to discuss a possible postwar political deal for Syria, one of the main points of contention will be to determine whom to include among opposition groups in future negotiations — and the West may back groups that are less than “moderate,” Britain’s top diplomat said on Monday. From Our Advertisers
“In my judgment, people we should be talking to will include people who have a vision for the future of Syria that is different from ours, a vision that we will not agree with,” the British foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, said in an interview at The New York Times.
“But if those are people who are prepared to argue their case, who are prepared to test their vision at the ballot box and are prepared to accept the decision of the Syrian people and take part in a democratic debate, then my view is that we should include them,” he said.
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While Mr. Hammond declined to offer any details on which groups could eventually take part in political negotiations, his comments suggested that the West might be prepared to back Sunni Islamist groups with close ties to allies, including Saudi Arabia. “What we mean by a secular constitution, and what people in the Muslim world will understand by secular will be two different things,” Mr. Hammond said.
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