Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Turkish counterpart on ensuring that Kurds are part of Syria peace talks.

Mr David Lidington

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) has had a number of conversations about Syrian peace talks with the Foreign Minister of Turkey and other Turkish leaders, including during his recent visit to Turkey and at the Syria Conference in London. There was agreement on the importance of support to intra-Syrian negotiations on political transition in Syria. Any political settlement must be inclusive and we trust that the process will bring in a full range of Syria groups at the right time.