Russia Has a Draft Constitution for Syria, as Then US Had for Iraq

• 02.05.2017, 11:24
•  Near East,  World,  Info

© Iliya Pitalev / Sputnik

The most remarkable aspect of the talks in Astana mediated by Russia, Iran and Turkey was the fact that the Russian side presented the negotiating parties its own draft of a new constitution of Syria. It implies an expansion of the powers of Parliament to decide on declaring war or peace, as well as starting the impeachment process against the President (Currently the Parliament has no such powers in the Syrian Constitution). The bill also prohibits the armed forces to intervene in political activities, as well as fixes the dominance of international law and international treaties over domestic laws if there is any discrepancy between them.

Russian version of the Syrian Constitution provides a distribution of posts in the Government according to the various ethno-religious groups. The appointment of Deputy Prime Minister and Ministers will be held on the basis of proportional representation of all ethnic and religious groups of the Syrian population. Russian project of the Syrian Constitution stipulates for certain posts among religious and ethnic minorities.

In the autonomous regions, according to the draft Constitution presented to Syrian delegations in Astana, Kurds can use their language equally with official Arabic language. In addition, the project allows to change the state borders only by means of a referendum, with the participation of all citizens of the country.

By another provision it is suggested to change the country's name (Syrian Arab Republic) by removing the word ‘’Arabic’’, and leaving only the Syrian Republic. It should be noted that the Syrian Kurds have welcomed the Russian point of this project.

According to the Russian draft project, the Syrian president is elected for 7 years, without the right of re-election,a bicameral parliament is established in the country, and Sharia law is no longer the main source of law.

The representatives of the Syrian opposition in Astana have refused to consider the Russian project, noting that it is submitted by external forces, not by the Syrian people, therefore, it is not a subject to consider. In addition, they stated that their problem is not in the Constitution.

As for the Syrian government, the official Syrian reaction was rather cautious. Damascus is satisfied at this stage by presenting its observations on certain parts of the project, although earlier it repeatedly stated that it "will not accept any project of Constitution outside the Syrian government."

It is noteworthy that the opposition accusations are made against Russia, saying the Russian variant of constitution is very much like the Constitution of Iraq, adopted in 2005, which was considered an American project. Opposition politicians state  taking into consideration the example of Iraq that any constitution written by other countries will not work for them.

Russian officials strongly deny the accusations, noting that the draft Constitution was developed taking into account the views of official Damascus, the opposition and other regional countries. The Russian side insisted that Russia's aim is just to speed up the process of adopting a new constitution in Syria, and not to interfere or impose their own views.