...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire....
, Iran and the United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
voiced hope Tuesday that a committee charged with writing a new Syrian constitution will start work early next year.
The Damascus government, which is backed by Moscow and Tehran, has not yet agreed to the committee, saying it will only support a process that alters Syria's existing constitution.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov -- flanked by his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif and Turkey's Mevlut Cavusoglu -- read a joint declaration after talks with UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura.
Russia, Iran and opposition backer Turkey "agreed to take efforts aimed at convening the first session of the Constitutional Committee in Geneva early next year," Lavrov said.
The committee has become the centrepiece of UN peace efforts in Syria and aims to set up elections that can turn the page on seven years of devastating war.
De Mistura, who will be replaced as UN envoy on January 7, praised the "significant joint input" from the three powers.
The meeting marked a final moment in de Mistura's four-year tenure, which did not produce a breakthrough for peace.
An op-ed in Syria's pro-government al-Watan newspaper on Tuesday underscored de Mistura's tense relationship with Syrian
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
's regime.
"In Damascus, we will never be sorry for Staffan de Mistura's departure," al-Watan said.
De Mistura is "leaving with regret that he couldn't destroy the Syrian state and couldn't impose the West's agenda on Syrians," it continued, while chastising efforts to "impose a new constitution on Syrians."