It has emerged that the Turkish Rixos Hotel, where the Syria talks were held in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, on the initiative of Russia, Türkiye and Iran, made a significant contribution to the organisational work.
Speaking to Sputnik, Tansel Tercan, General Manager of the Rixos Astana Hotel, said: “Russia, Türkiye, Iran, Syria and the UN, as well as an American delegation, took part in the talks. We prepared 50 rooms for this delegation. The event lasted 2 days. All security measures were organised by Kazakhstan.
Our hotel’s own private security service also supported the Kazakh security forces. Everything was carried out under our control. Preparations for the event began 3 days in advance. Such as preparing the halls, arranging the rooms for the delegations’ private meetings, and allocating rooms so that the press could work comfortably. Of course, everything was done within the framework of special control by the security forces. We checked everywhere carefully. We took extensive security measures.”
‘OUR WISH IS FOR PEACE TO COME TO SYRIA’
Tercan continued his remarks as follows: “We also provided our food and beverage services. The delegation was served 3 meals a day. The entire hotel team was mobilised to serve our guests. In connection with the event we worked 24 hours a day. Rixos President Astana began operating in 2005 with a capacity of 184 rooms. To date, senior officials coming to Kazakhstan have been guests of our hotel. Among them have been heads of state, prime ministers, ministers and other important figures.
We are therefore ready for all protocol work. And so we too made such a contribution to the Astana talks. We are honoured to have put our signature to such an event for world peace, tranquillity and stability. Astana, formerly named Akmola, is known as the crossroads of civilisations, the sun of the East, the heart of Asia. This is a city of peace. We hope that Astana will make a serious contribution to peace coming to Syria.”
Translated from the Turkish original.