After invitations to the third Geneva peace talks set for Jan. 29 were sent out on Tuesday, a third party’s participant in the negotiations has become certain. A delegation assembled from a Russian underwritten list, that includes members of the “Syrian Democratic Forces” will be joining both the regime and the Riyadh-based High Negotiations Committee (HNC), in Geneva.

However, Turkish political pressures seem to have succeeded in keeping the Partiya Yekîtiya Demokrat(Democratic Union Party) Kurdish PYD out of the negotiations. The PYD were not among the recipients of Tuesday’s invitations to the third peace talks, notwithstanding the fact that PYD Leader Salih Muslim was enlisted on the roster of participants delivered earlier to UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura.

Moreover, the Popular Front for Change and Liberation’s center-left President Qadri Jamil said: “We will be attending the Geneva peace talks equal, in number and power to the HNC, we are not there to play an advisory role as rumors are saying”.

Besides, Jamil confirmed his participation in the negotiations regardless of the HNC’s decision, under the premise of him considering that it is still yet too early to discuss Assad’s future stay in authority.

The Syrian Opposition’s HNC is still anticipated to make a decision on their participation in the peace talks, after a meeting they held in Riyadh on Tuesday.

HNC member Salem al-Meslet said the group would resume talks Wednesday, adding that the “atmosphere is positive”.

Moreover, al-Meslet, in a phone interview, told Asharq Al-Awsat that a message was sent out to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asking for some explanation, and stating , in turn, that the HNC should be the only opposition delegation with no third party in the negotiations, the Kurds should simply belong to the government’s delegation.