Licensed opposition parties stress need for all national opposition forces to be represented in Geneva conference

Licensed national opposition parties held a press conference on Tuesday at Dama Rose Hotel in Damascus, in which they said that the absence of internal opposition from Geneva 2 conference was a weak point and deficiency that should be remedied.

The parties said that certain sides’ adoption of the Doha coalition as the sole representative of the opposition at the conference was the primary cause of the lack of results during the first stage of the conference.

They also called for immediate cessation of announced arming and funding of sides bearing arms regardless of their classification, saying that the US attitude towards arming and funding shows that it’s not serious about resolving the crisis in Syria.

The parties said that any true solution for the crisis in Syria should be based on preserving Syria’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and its people’s right to self-determination without foreign interference of any kind.

They noted that holding the Geneva 2 conference means that matters have reached a point where a political solution can be adopted and armed actions can be avoided, adding that the conference cannot succeed if it doesn’t result in combating terrorism and stopping foreign interference and violence.

Head of the People’s Party Nawwaf al-Milhem said that foreign interference is the cause of what is happening in Syria, and that the Doha coalition was manufactured by the United States, calling for reaching an international decision to pressure countries supporting terrorism into ceasing this behavior.

In turn, head of the National Youth Party for Justice and Development Perwin Ibrahim noted that only the opposition which carries out US agendas was invited to Geneva 2, and that some licensed opposition parties viewed the Syrian official delegation as their representative at the conference because they agree with it regarding numerous national standards.

For his part, head of the Syrian Democratic Party Ahmad Kousa said that the Doha coalition was the main reason for the failure of the talks in Geneva 2, stressing that leaving any side out of the Geneva talks makes no sense.

Similarly, head of the Syrian National Youth Party Maher Merhej said that Geneva 2 didn’t reach any results in issues that are important to the Syrian people, and that discussing the form of the political system in Syria must be discussed and resolved internally.

The aforementioned statement was signed by the People Party, Popular Will Party, Solidarity Party, Syria the Homeland Party, Democratic Vanguard Party, Syrian Democratic Party, National Youth Party for Justice and Development, Syrian National Youth Party, and Democratic Arab Solidarity Party.

On a relevant note, the Syrian National Youth Party and the Democratic Arab Solidarity Party held talks on Tuesday to discuss launching an internal national dialogue conference and unifying the positions of Syrian forces and parties towards Geneva 2.

Participants stressed the need to focus on national reconciliation to resolve the crisis, saying that Geneva 2 showed the true nature of the external opposition which only represents the foreign governments and sides which support them and are completely ignorant about what is actually happening in Syria.