In response to the UN Security Council’s unanimous adoption of resolution 2254 on Syria, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement released Saturday, December 19, that “Turkey has been supporting a solution in which Bashar Assad would be transitioned out in the envisaged political transition process through complete transfer of power to a transitional government.”
The Turkish foreign ministry also said that “Turkey attaches great importance to the talks between the Assad regime and the Syrian Opposition as part of the political transition process.”
“We would like to emphasize that it is critically important for the success and the legitimacy of these talks that the delegation to represent the Opposition be constructed within the confines of the results and the context of the Riyadh Conference held on December 8-10, 2015 with the participation of all segments of the Syrian opposition,” the statement added.
It also stresses that “attaining peace and stability in Syria will only be possible by establishing a transitional government with full executive powers on the way to free and fair elections in which the people will be able to express their own will and by Assad and the other regime elements with blood on their hands leaving the scene. In this vein, Turkey will continue to contribute to the envisaged political process.”
Secretary of the Syrian Coalition’s political committee Anas al-Abdah said earlier that the UN Security Council resolution 2254 reflected international consensus on the general framework for a political solution in Syria. “However, disagreements on important issues remain; most notably the fate of Bashar al-Assad and his role in the transitional period and the future of Syria,” Abdah stressed.
“The unanimous adoption of the resolution was hardly surprising as its text was drawn from earlier texts that had been already agreed upon by the United States and Russia,” Abdah added. (Source: Anadolu)