Syria

Mikdad: Coalition delegation’s rejection of acknowledging presence of terrorism in Syria hindered agreement

20140211-151058_h527428Deputy Foreign and Expatriates Minister Dr. Fayssal Mikdad said that the coalition delegation’s rejection to acknowledge the presence of terrorism in Syria has hindered reaching an agreement on an agenda for talks in Geneva, asserting that the coalition delegation behaves as instructed by paper clippings that come from outside the meeting room.

Mikdad said in a press conference on Tuesday that the Syrian official delegation insisted during today’s talks on the need for a clear agenda reflecting the spirit and sequence of the first Geneva communiqué items, reiterating that the Syrian official delegation is prepared to discuss anything and has no fears on any of the communiqué’s items.

He said that the coalition delegation is far removed from the spirit of the first Geneva communiqué and didn’t want to enter any political activities from the start, rejecting completely to include terrorism on the agenda of discussions.

“Those who come out with statements far removed from what is happening in the meetings have rejected clearly and openly to include terrorism in the conference’s discussions, saying that there’s no terrorism in Syria, no Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, no Jabhet al-Nusra, and no Islamic Front, and this again proves that they live in an illusionary, unreal, deceptive and false world.

“We cannot accept bypassing the first item – which is the most important one – of the Geneva communiqué on counterterrorism… those who refuse to discuss this item seeks to create and support terrorism to kill the Syrian people,” Mikdad said.

He stressed the need for halting violence and terrorism in Syria, because it’s unacceptable to squander the blood of Syrians being shed by terrorists who came from all over the world, adding that all the terrorists who came to Syria and killed Syrians – whether they came through the Turkish or Jordanian borders or from the occupied lands – are trained and came to Syria to achieve solely Israeli goals.

Mikdad called upon all countries of the world to combat the terrorism which Syria is combating.

He asserted that the Syrian official delegation will continue participating in the Geneva meeting to relay the voice and suffering of the Syrian people and reach a solution to the crisis in Syria, stressing that stemming bloodshed must be a priority to all Syrians to allow them all to live in peace.

Answering a question on the reasons why the coalition delegation is focusing on the issue of transitional government, Mikdad said, “We are talking about a transitional government as there seems to be hunger for authority over the Syrian people and we have come here to discuss everything according to Geneva Communiqué and its first item which is stemming violence and terrorism while they (the coalition delegation) are discussing these issues according to the instructions they receive from the others.”

He asserted that the opposition is required to respect the basic principles of dialogue and discussion and the Syrian official delegation supports any kind of discussions but preparations for them should be made as the coalition delegation has wasted all the time and they said that there is no terrorism in Syria.

He added that the Russian friends expressed concerns over the lack of seriousness on the part of the coalition.

Mikdad noted that the agenda of discussions should be specified by the two Syrian sides, adding that tomorrow they will discuss the agenda but the Syrian official delegation cannot accept any form of avoiding the first item of Geneva Communique which is combating terrorism.

In response to a question on whether Brahimi stressed the issue of expanding the opposition delegation, Mikdad said, “We stressed on that in the previous rounds and the message was delivered, so if they wanted to slow down this weak and unrepresentative delegation that is up to those who formed the delegation because the Syrian opposition did not form this delegation frankly.”

Mikdad pointed out that the coalition delegation believes that the priority is forming a transitional governing body, but this is not the priority of the Syrian official delegation and this is irresponsible matter on their part and contradicts the content of Geneva 1 Communique.

“If we do not reach agreement on stemming bloodshed in Syria, there will not be any agreement because the Syrians are looking forward to Geneva for ending bloodshed, preventing foreign intervention in their affairs and stopping funding and training and arming the terrorists,” Mikdad said.

He added, “Throughout the past three years, the Syrian leadership proposed several plans to end the situation but foreign intervention foiled all efforts exerted to achieve the aspirations of the Syrians which are stopping violence and terrorism.”

“If we take into consideration that the US is directing the coalition delegation which is rejecting even the discussion of terrorism, this means that the US administration is not serious in combating terrorism in Syria and this is the logical conclusion,” he said.

“We do not want at all to seek militarization, and we have said from the first day that we support peaceful solution,” Mikdad stressed.

He added that the Syrian government has made remarkable progress during the past two years working to evacuate innocent citizens from the areas which are under the control of the armed groups.

Answering a question on the agreement on the so-called “transitional body”, Mikdad said, “We believe that an expanded national transitional government is more accurate, and we support democracy and against the titles and conceptions which are not understood by the Syrian people.”

Commenting on information that fighters who were trained by Israelis in al-Jouf city in Saudi Arabia to come to Syria through Jordan during the upcoming days, Mikdad said, “It is not strange because everyone who came to Syria through the Turkish borders or the Jordanian borders and even from inside the Syrian occupied territories by the Israeli enemy and killed Syrians; those were trained and for merely Israeli interests to undermine the political stance of Syria regionally and internationally.”

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