President of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC), Salem Al-Meslet, received a delegation from the National Coordination Committee headed by General Coordinator Hassan Abdel Azim at the SOC’s headquarters in Istanbul on Tuesday.
The meeting come at the invitation of the SOC to the National Coordination Committee to emphasize the importance of the unity of the Syrian revolution and opposition forces. It also came to revitalize the political process in a way that serves the interests of the Syrian people and their just cause, especially in light of the challenges facing the Syrian issue at the internal and external levels.
At the beginning of the meeting, the two sides stressed the necessity of joint action by the Syrian national opposition to achieve the political transition that the Syrian people aspire to in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions, especially the Geneva Communique of 2012 and UN Resolutions 2118 and 2254.
Al-Meslet indicated that the Syrian issue needs a comprehensive national groundwork, stressing the need for these meetings to be a starting point for sustained work and cooperation to serve the Syrian people, their interests and aspirations.
For his part, Abdul Azim stressed that the Syrian issue faces many challenges that must be addressed, including attempts to rehabilitate the Assad regime and the need to unify the visions of the Syrian opposition. He pointed out that meeting these challenges requires reaching common understanding that fulfillls the aspirations of the Syrian people.
The agenda of the meetings includes discussing the results of the sixth session of the Constitutional Committee and evaluating the UN-sponsored political process. The SOC will also lay out its vision for the political process in light of the Assad regime’s disruption and insistence on pursing a military solution.
The SOC stresses the duty of the international community and the United Nations to implement UN Security Council resolutions and activate the principle of humanitarian intervention to prevent Russia from using its veto power to block humanitarian aid. It also stresses the importance of activating the principle of the Responsibility to Protect to save the lives of Syrians in the liberated areas. Furthermore, the SOC stresses the importance of addressing other humanitarian issues, including the release of detainees, disclosing the fate of the forcibly disappeared, and protecting refugees from forcible return in view of the serious dangers that threaten those forcibly returned to Syria.
The two sides affirmed their keenness that the meetings culminate in outcomes that would satisfy the Syrian people and the forces of the Syrian revolution and opposition. They also affirmed their keenness on mobilizing popular support in order to achieve the aspirations of the Syrian people for getting rid of tyranny and building a state of citizenship and law in accordance with the Geneva Communique of 2012 and the relevant international resolutions, most notably UN Resolution 2254.
The meeting brought together members of the Committee Hind Bozo, Iyad Al-Taqi, Muhammad Ali Al-Sayegh, Muhammad Al-Saadi, Yahya Aziz, and Muhammad Abdul-Karim. It was also attended by the SOC’s members Ruba Habboush, Haitham Rahma, Abdul Majeed Barakat, Hadi Al-Bahra, Anas Abdah, Badr Jamous, Farouk Tayfour, Riyadh Al-Hassan, Abdullah Kaddo, Abdelbaset Abdullatif, Ahmed Ramadan, and Muhammad Yahya Maktabi.
(Source: SOC’s Media Department)
