(Vatican Radio) The Holy See’s representative at the Geneva II peace talks on Syria
says real peace in the country may be challenging to achieve without Iran, one of
the key powers in the region, participating in the discussion.
Archbishop Silvano
Tomasi is leading the Holy See delegation to the Geneva II summit, underway in Montreux,
Switzerland. The foreign ministers at the summit are currently discussing the Geneva
II document, which outlines a political transition plan for Syria.
Earlier
this week, UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon retracted his controversial invitation
to Iran to the talks, eliciting mixed reaction from the international community.
In
an interview with Vatican Radio, Archbishop Tomasi spoke on Iran’s absence from the
talks.
Politics demands that certain decisions be made, said Archbishop Tomasi.
“We had to make some strange decisions,” he said. “In my opinion, it is not
very realistic to try to have peace without one of the key powers in the region. But
we hope that, with the discussions underway on (Iran’s) nuclear program, we can keep
the door open a little, so as not to impede the dialogue that we are starting with
Syria.”
Archbishop Tomasi said the absolute priority of the talks is to respond
to the demand of the Syrian population to bring an end to the violence, death and
destruction. About 130,000 people have died and entire villages have been destroyed,
he noted.
“Faced with this reality, the international community is seeking
to respond with a sense of solidarity to find “an acceptable compromise to begin effective
negotiations,” said Archbishop Tomasi.
Face-to-face negotiations between the
Syrian government and the opposition, the first since the conflict began three years
ago, will begin in Geneva on Friday.