SNC repeats call for regime change

The spokesman of the so-called Syrian National Coalition (SNC) has repeated his call for the overthrow of the legitimate government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“We are ready to enter into negotiations that are aimed towards transferring power to the people, towards a democratic transition. And that of course means Assad cannot be a part of Syria in the future,” Louay Safi said on Sunday in the Turkish city of Istanbul.

Safi also accused the Syrian government of not being serious about an international peace conference on the Syrian crisis that is likely to take place in Geneva in June.

Earlier in the day, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said Assad™s government will participate in the Geneva conference, calling it a “good opportunity for a political solution” to the two-year crisis.

Meeting in Istanbul since Thursday, the deeply divided SNC has so far failed to reach a consensus on whether to participate in the US-Russian peace initiative dubbed Geneva 2.

Salem al-Meslet, an SNC member, said Damascus’s intention to attend the conference is not enough.

A similar reaction also came from Farah Attasi, who is a political adviser to the foreign-backed opposition.

She said there were more pressing questions that needed to be answered than participating in such international talks.

Russia and the United States reached an agreement in Moscow on May 7 to convene an international conference on Syria, which would serve as a follow-up to an earlier Geneva meeting held in June 2012.

Some reports say the meeting will be held on June 10, but Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Friday that such reports œcannot be taken seriously” since the ranks of the Syrian opposition groups remain so divided.

On May 13, the US and Britain said they had found common ground with Russia on how to proceed on Syria.

At a meeting in Washington, US President Barack Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron said the two sides would make diplomatic efforts to find a political solution to the turmoil in Syria.

The crisis in Syria began in March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of soldiers and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on May 23, œSyria is determined to tackle terrorism and those who support it regionally and globally, and to find a political solution to the crisis.”

GJH/HN