Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano said after an extraordinary meeting on Syria on the sidelines of the G7 in Lucca Tuesday that "after the American intervention a window of opportunity has opened to build a new positive condition for the political process in Syria, which we believe is the only solution." The meeting included Gulf states and Turkey.
Alfano said that "Russia must not be isolated, indeed within the limits of the possible it must be involved in the process of political transition in Syria". On the possibility of fresh sanctions, aired yesterday, Alfano said "everyone voiced their opinion but the line of involving Russia appears prevalent, towards a concrete collaboration which can avert military conflict and start a political process". Alfano said negotiations with Russia "will be complex, but the first step is already very important", referring to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's visit to Moscow today and tomorrow. He said Tillerson can count on "a very convinced consensus forged yesterday and today here in Lucca" at the G7 and among Arab states.
The future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad can't be decided in a day, Alfano went on. Alfano said Assad's future "is part of a much broader and more general discussion, on which we'll have to focus gradually, and which can't be decided in a day". He said that Italy's position "has always been that it is up to the Syrians to decide their own destiny".
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