MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The UN special envoy for Syria, who scheduled the much-anticipated talks between the Arab republic's government and opposition delegates to be held on Friday in Geneva, began issuing official invitations earlier in the week.
"Mr. de Mistura sent invitations… the PYD group was causing the most problems, and de Mistura told me he had not sent them an invitation letter," Fabius told France Culture radio.
On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the intra-Syrian reconciliation talks would fail to result in a political settlement without the participation of the Syrian Kurds.
Turkish officials, meanwhile, have sought to exclude the PYD, which they view as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), outlawed in the country.