Syria opposition: Don't prolong catastrophe
01/04/2012| IslamWeb
Representatives from 70 nations are meeting in Turkey to consider ways of supporting the Syrian opposition and applying further international pressure to end a deadly crackdown on an anti-government uprising.
Burhan Ghalioun, the head of the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC), said at the opening of the so-called "Friends of Syria" in Istanbul: "We demand serious action. The Syrian regime will inevitably fall. Don't prolong the catastrophe. The opposition is united; now it is time for you to unite and support the Syrian opposition."
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, called for the international community to speak with one voice in his opening remarks.
"We believe geopolitical concerns and interests cannot rule our world. We refuse to take such a stand. We refuse to accept a situation where tanks are shooting women and children," Erdogan said.
"We also believe the international community has a moral obligation to act. We must make sure that only our conscience speaks.
"It is crucial that we speak with one voice. The message that we give to the Syrian regime must be very exact, very precise... The bloodshed in Syria must stop. We demand this."
Amid demands from some for active intervention to assist Syria's opposition, Erdogan said Syrians' right to self-defense should be accepted.
"If the United Nations Security Council refrains from taking on the responsibility, the international community will have no chance but to accept Syrians' right to self-defense," he said.
The meeting brings together representatives from western and Arab nations critical of the government in Damascus and members of the Syrian National Council opposition, and follows the first gathering of the Friends of Syria group in Tunisia in February.
But the group does not include Russia and China, which have blocked unified international action on Syria at UN Security Council level.
'Action on the ground'
Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, Qatar's prime minister, said "words needed to be turned into action on the ground", while Nabil el-Araby said it was time for the international community to "bravely address the situation in Syria".
Calling for tighter sanctions and for ways to hold Syrian leaders to account for abuses, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said before the meeting that the US focus in Istanbul would be to "intensify" an array of international sanctions.
She also said the meeting would discuss sending more humanitarian aid to those in need, despite Syrian efforts to block it.
The meeting comes with Syrian security forces continuing their assault on revolution strongholds, seemingly in defiance of a Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's formal commitment to a six-point peace plan from UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.
"The Syrian government is staying true to form, unfortunately, making a deal and then refusing to implement it," Clinton said. "And as of today, regime forces continue to shell civilians, lay siege to neighborhoods, and even target places of worship."
Clinton reaffirmed that Washington was looking at sending non-lethal support such as communications gear and medical aid to an increasingly armed opposition.
More than 9,000 people, UN officials estimate, have died in the year since Assad's forces began crushing pro-democracy protests inspired by revolutions that have swept the leaders of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen from power.
PHOTO CAPTION
An image from YouTube is said to show flames rising shelling by Syrian government forces on the city of Homs.
Al-Jazeera