|
Syrian Kurdish group quit the meeting in Cairo, Syrian
opposition does not ‘recognize Kurds as notion’ |
|
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the
content of news information on this page |
|
Syrian Kurdish group quit the meeting in
Cairo, Syrian opposition does not ‘recognize Kurds
as notion’
4.7.2012 |
|
|
|
Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi
(front-L) speaks with Egypt’s Foreign Minister
Mohammed Kamel Amr during the Syrian Opposition
Conference in Cairo on July 2, 2012. Photo: Getty
Images.
•
See Related Links
Kurds walk out in protest
over nationality
July
4, 2012
CAIRO, — A meeting of Syria's splintered
opposition in Cairo descended into scuffles and
fistfights on Tuesday that dealt another blow to
Western leaders seeking a unified front against
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The meeting also failed to resolve many of the
differences between the rival Syrian opposition
groups, further complicating efforts to find a
viable alternative to rule by Assad, whose forces
have killed thousands of Syrian civilians and
combatants.
"This is so sad. It will have a bad implications for
all parties. It will make the Syrian opposition look
bad and demoralise the protesters on the ground,"
opposition activist Gawad al-Khatib, 27, said.
A Syrian Kurdish group quit the meeting, provoking
mayhem and cries of "scandal, scandal" from
delegates. Women wept as men traded blows, and staff
of the hotel used for the meeting hurriedly removed
tables and chairs as the scuffles spread.
"We will not return to the conference and that is
our final line. We are a people as we have language
and religion and that is what defines a people,"
said Morshed Mashouk, a leading member of the
Kurdish group which walked out.
"The Kurds withdrew because the conference rejected
an item that says the Kurdish people must be
recognised," said Abdel Aziz Othman of the National
Kurdish Council. "This is unfair and we will no
longer accept to be marginalised."
The outburst lasted only a few minutes, and some
said it had been stage managed to get the Kurds on
television.
When one Kurd screamed, "Nothing has changed, we
need to be listened to" as he walked out of the
conference room, in front of cameras,www.ekurd.net
a young activist followed him shouting: "This is a
faked withdrawal seeking to make the conference
fail."
Sixteen months into an uprising against Assad, the
failure to rally Syria's disparate religious and
ethnic groups behind a united leadership will make
it more difficult to secure international
recognition.
An official from the meeting's host, the Arab
League, who attended the closed meetings, said of
the oppposition group: "Yhey are so different,
chaotic and hate each other."
FINAL STATEMENT
A final statement read by Syrian opposition leader
Kamal Al-Labuany, said:
"All the attendees of the conference agreed that the
political solution has to start by the fall of the
regime represented in Bashar Al-Assad and the icons
of his power and calls for an immediate halt of
violence committed by the Syrian regime."
Reading from a one-page statement, he said the
opposition groups agreed on the "importance of
preserving civil peace and national unity".
But at times that spirit of "national unity" was
hard to detect, in the Kurd walkout and in the
sparring over how best to create a unified front
against Assad.
Opposition leader Haitham al-Manah told Reuters that
one of the points of disagreement was over
authorities to be granted to a committee to act as a
face of the opposition.
A draft document, put together by a 16-person
preparatory committee, had called for setting up a
follow-up committee to coordinate all the opposition
parties and to execute the contents of documents
agreed at the talks.
"The Syrian National Council (Syria's main
opposition group)has rejected that this committee
act as a leader, which shows its interest to remain
the sole leader of the opposition," Manah said.
A senior leader of the SNC told Reuters on condition
of anonymity that the council had rejected granting
any leadership powers to such a committee and wanted
it to act solely as a coordinator.
However, the divided opposition did discuss in broad
terms what their nation should look like after Assad.
One of those principles was to have a new Syria
governed as a "republican, democratic, civilian,
pluralistic system".
This covenant also referred to social justice in the
economy with redistributive taxation policies, while
providing investment security and an economic system
that would prevent monopolies.
A document on how to handle the transition from
Assad's rule said his Baath party would be dissolved
but everyone - provided they did not have "hands
stained with blood" - would be allowed to help steer
the country.
It also said a meeting should be held in Damascus to
create a temporary legislative body and an interim
government during the transition. It outlined
actions to reform the army and to form a committee
to investigate crimes against the Syrian people,
such as massacres and political detentions.
Assad has held on far longer than other Arab leaders
who faced popular uprisings, in part due to his
willingness to use overwhelming force but also
because of divisions among his population, the
opposition and the international community.
Russia, Syria's longtime ally, opposes U.N. action
proposed by Western powers. The United States and
European powers have themselves shown no appetite
for military intervention of the kind they used in
Libya.
(Reporting by Yasmine Saleh; Writing by Edmund
Blair, Tom Pfeiffer and Yasmine Saleh; Editing by
Michael Roddy)
Copyright ©, respective
author or news agency,
Reuters
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the
content of news information on this page
|
|
|
®
