Istanbul
Heysem Malih, the President of Law Committee of National Coalition for the Syrian Opposition and the Revolutionary Forces, has said the coalition would not attend the 2nd Geneva International Conference.
Calling on the Syrians not to give up their rights until fall of Assad regime and establisment of a state under a new constitution that would protect the rights of the Syrian community, Malih said, "Syrian National Coalition will not attend the 2nd Geneva International Conference."
A group of 20 people who called themselves "Veto" protested the international community for putting pressure on the SNC instead of Iran and Hezbollah to include several names in the coalition.
The demonstrators claimed that the international community was unable to remove the Hezbollah and Iran from Syria.
Luey As Safi, a member of Political Bureau of SNC, said the participation of SNC to the conference depended on the attitude of Russia.
"At first, we welcomed the international initiative. However, we are expecting a statement especially from the Assad administration. On behalf of Assad administration, Russia said Assad regime would attend the Geneva conference on Saturday. Separately, Syrian foreign minister stated in Baghdad that a delegation was ready to go to Geneva for dialogue. However, we are not in the dialogue process but we are in the process which targets at handing over the administration to people and transition to democratic system and it means that Assad would not be a part of Syria in the future. SNC wants the Assad administration to accept negotiations and dialogue within framework of the Geneva agreement," said As Safi.
The enlargement of SNC
Eight of the 22 names who were proposed within the framework of the decision on enlargement of SNC were designated as new members, raising the number of the coalition from 62 to 70.
The first Geneva Conference on Syria, held on June 30, 2012, recognized the need for a transition government based on the mutual consent between Assad regime and the opposition group.
The meeting resulted in the agreement between Russia, Syria's important ally, and the Western countries, after months of disagreement, on forming a Syrian government including elements from the present government and the opposition and other groups and formed on the basis of mutual consent.
