Morsi sends delegation to Iran to discuss Syria

Morsi sends delegation to Iran to discuss Syria
Sun Apr 28, 2013 17:23:33

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has sent a delegation to Iran to discuss a proposal to establish a quartet to end the crisis in Syria.

Morsi has issued a statement saying that he had sent his envoys to Iran to follow up on Cairo’s proposal that Iran, Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia form a group to work out a solution to the crisis in Syria.

 

The delegation included Morsi's foreign relations advisor, Essam el-Haddad, and his chief of staff, Refaa al-Tahtawi.

 

The Egyptian delegation held separate meetings with Iranian high-ranking officials, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, where they discussed issues of mutual interest, particularly all-out bilateral ties.

 

During the meetings, the Egyptian and Iranian sides underscored the need to adopt executive plans aimed at implementing Morsi’s peace plan for the ongoing crisis in Syria.

 

In the course of a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Mecca in August 2012, the Egyptian president presented the initiative to establish a contact group on Syria comprising Iran, Egypt, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia.

 

A high-level meeting of the group was held on September 17, 2012 about a week after preparatory talks in Cairo by lower-ranking officials from the four countries.

 

The Iranian, Egyptian, and Turkish presidents also met in Cairo on February 6 and called for an immediate solution to the crisis in Syria and an end to the bloodshed.

 

The meeting was held on the sidelines of the 12th OIC summit. Saudi Arabia did not attend the negotiations.

 

In a recent interview with Al Jazeera, Morsi highlighted Iran’s role in the efforts to resolve the crisis in Syria.

 

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of security personnel, have been killed in the violence.

 

Damascus says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of militants fighting in Syria are foreign nationals.

 

In addition, several international human rights organizations say the foreign-sponsored militants are committing war crimes in Syria.

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