Co-chair of the Constitutional Committee, Hadi Al-Bahra, said that the delegation of the Syrian Negotiations Commission put forward five proposals to the UN envoy, Geir Pedersen, concerning the agenda of the current round of discussions. He said that the delegation of the Assad regime rejected these proposals and insisted that the discussions must be limited to the so-called “national principles.” He noted that the regime’s delegation also insisted on entering the meeting room without an agreement on a clear agenda for the discussions.
At a press conference on Thursday, Al-Bahra said that as per the rules of procedure of the work of the Constitutional Committee, the co-chairs of the Committee must agree on an agenda 72 hours before the start of the second round of discussions.
The delegation of the Syrian Negotiations Commission put forward a proposal four days before the start of the second round of talks, he added. “We distributed our proposal to the media and sent it to the office of the UN Envoy. But the delegation of intelligence services and their Iranian master rejected these proposals and demanded an agenda outside the context of work Constitutional Committee, calling it the national principles.”
Moreover, Al-Bahra stressed that the “delegation of the regime of barrel bombs is clearly working under orders from its Iranian operator and insisting on disrupting the whole process.”
“We have made it clear to the UN envoy that the national principles have already been determined by the Syrian people according to the constitutions they voted on freely and according to the documents adopted to form the Constitutional Committee.” He said that these documents include the 12 Living Intra-Syrian Essential Principles that were laid out in Geneva and adopted in Sochi Conference and enclosed in the decision to form the Constitutional Committee.
Al-Bahra pointed out that they submitted a simpler proposal but was also rejected despite that it was at the heart of the work of the Constitutional Committee. He added that the regime also rejected the third proposal, noting that they presented two more proposals on Thursday, but were also rejected by the regime.
Al-Bahra showed the official paper presented by the delegation of the regime to journalists, saying that the regime’s delegation demanded that the delegations enter the meeting room and each delegation begins to discuss what it deems appropriate. “It is as if we came to a cultural forum to hold a dialogue while blood is being shed in Syria and barrel bombs are being rained on our people.”
Furthermore, Al-Bahra stressed that the delegation of the Syrian Negotiations Commission is on a national mission to end the siege on the Syrian people, put an end to the military operations, put an end to the injustice against the Syrian people, and achieve a real, genuine political transition that brings peace to Syria.
Al-Bahra went on to say that Friday is the last day of this second round of discussions, noting that the delegation of the Syrian Negotiations Commission will spare no effort until the last hour to start the work of the Committee. He pointed out that the talks must proceed in accordance with the rules of procedure agreed upon by all parties and in accordance with the mandate given to it, namely to draw up a draft constitution for Syria.
Al-Bahra concluded his remarks by stressing that the international community and the states that supported the formation of the Constitutional Committee are fully responsible for pushing towards positive performance by all delegations in the work of the Constitutional Committee. (Source: Syrian National Coalition’s Media Department)
