A new Syrian constitution in the offing

Ankara, Turkey: As the first step in a political solution to Syria’s eight-year conflict, the leaders of Turkey, Russia and Iran have announced the formation of a committee to draft a new Syrian constitution.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, met for the fifth summit since the trio launched the Astana talks nearly three years ago. The summit was hosted by Erdogan on Monday.

The three leaders revealed the formation of a constitutional committee comprising government, opposition and civil society members to the newspersons.

Putin expressed hope that the work of the constitutional committee will be decisive in finally normalising the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic.