President of the Syrian Coalition Abdurrahman Mustafa, received the Canadian Deputy Foreign Minister, Ian Shugart, and an accompanying delegation on Wednesday and discussed with them the latest political developments and the situation on the ground in Syria.
President Mustafa thanked Canada for the support it provides to projects aimed at easing the suffering of the displaced people and refugees. He stressed that ending this suffering requires a genuine political transition in accordance with the UN resolutions, most notably UN Security Council resolution 2254.
President Mustafa described the remarks recently made by the new UN envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen, who stressed the need for an inclusive political process as encouraging. Much work has been already done to activate the work of the Constitutional Committee, President Mustafa said, pointing to the need to carry on with this track as a gateway to a real political process and the creation of a safe, neutral environment.
“The Assad regime will avidly seek to impede the political process and procrastinate once again as it is fully aware that this process means its demise,” President Mustafa said. “We in the Syrian Coalition insist that the only option should be to implement UN resolutions through an inclusive political process meeting the aspirations and respect the sacrifices of the Syrian people.”
President Mustafa called for raising the issue of the war crimes the Assad regime is committing against civilians in Syria; the restructuring of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria; and the activation of the work of the International Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) to hold accountable the perpetrators of war crimes in Syria.
“The trove of photos of tens of thousands of victims of torture leaked by defecting military photographer codenamed Caesar, the use of chemical weapons against civilians, and the hundreds of the most horrible massacres will go down in history as ones of the most heinous crimes committed by the regime.”
With regards to the buffer zone area to be established in northeastern Syria, President Mustafa noted that this move would allow the return of hundreds of thousands of people who had been displaced by the PYD militia to their homes and their areas of origin.
“The establishment of the buffer zone will allow the return of internally displaced persons and refugees who should be allowed to return to their homes.”
The meeting, which was held at the headquarters of the Syrian Coalition in Istanbul, was attended by Coalition members and members of the political committee. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
