Kurds to be present in Syrian peace talks: Russia

Moscow, Jan 22 : Russia has invited Kurds to take part in Syrian peace talks taking place late January in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.

"Kurdish representatives have been included on the list of Syrians invited to participate in the Syrian National Dialogue Congress which will take place in Sochi next week," he said at a press conference here.

Syrian Kurds should play a role in the "future political process", he said.

The invite to Syrian Kurds to attend the Sochi meeting came despite a cross-border operation launched by the Turkish military on Saturday that is aimed at dislodging the armed wing of Syrian Kurdish group, the PYD from its Afrin enclave in northern Syria.

The Sochi peace talks, slated for January 29-30, are aimed at forging a new post-war constitution for Syria.

Iran, Russia and Turkey have organised separate Syrian peace talks in parallel to rounds of United Nations backed peace negotiations taking place in Geneva aimed at ending the seven-year conflict.