GENEVA
UN Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi struck a positive note on the final day of the first round of Syria talks in Geneva this week even as he said the sides had not achieved "any progress to speak of."
Brahimi told reporters Friday "the gap remains wide" between the Syrian regime and the opposition delegations after their week of first direct negotiations.
"We haven’t made any progress to speak of," Brahimi said. "There is no point in pretending otherwise."
He also recognized that "immense hope" was pinned on the talks, and people were "starting to feel disappointed already."
But he said there was some "common ground" between the parties, who were trying to overcome the "very difficult issues that have led to this war."
The sides were now getting used to talking and listening to each other, Brahimi said, and there were even moments when they "acknowledged the concerns, difficulties and point of view of the other side."
The delegations plan to take a week long break and meet again next Monday. The first week saw them discuss delivering humanitarian aid and ending the violence in Syria. In the last two days they also broached the main sticking point of the talks - a transitional government without Syria's Bashar al-Assad.
"I observed a little bit of common ground, perhaps more than the two sides themselves realize or recognize," Brahimi said.
"This is a modest beginning on which we can build."
During the last press conference of the week, the UN special envoy and mediator enumerated a list of points on which he thought the sides might agree, citing first the implementation of the Geneva Communique approved after the first Geneva conference on Syria in 2012. The document calls for an end to the three-year civil war and for the establishment of a transitional government without Assad.
Presenting the points of possible agreement, Brahimi said the sides knew that to implement the communique requires an end to the conflict and forming a "transitional governing body with full executive powers."
He added that the sides were committed to ensuring the sovereignty of Syria, saying, "No loss of territory will ever be accepted."
The parties were aware that the Syrian people were longing for a "genuinely democratic Syria where governance is transparent and accountable and based on human rights and the rule of law," he said.
Brahimi stressed that the points were his own assessment of "where I see the parties basically saying the same thing, or almost the same thing."
Brahimi confirmed a second round of talks should begin February 10. The opposition agreed to the date, he said, while the Syrian regime delegation said they would first need to consult officials in Damascus, the Syrian capital.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
