Turkey expects that the international conference in Tunis on Friday will help end the bloodshed in Syria,a diplomatic source in the Turkish capital told Today’s Zaman.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a Turkish diplomat said Turkey is ready to give full support to any initiative that would quell the brutal violence by the Syrian regime.
Tunisia will host on Feb. 24 an Arab League-initiated meeting of the “Friends of Syria,” which will gather nations seeking to build an international agreement on how to end the violence in Syria.
The conference will be attended by representatives from the US, EU governments and regional countries, including Turkey and Arab League nations. The Turkish government has said the world cannot remain silent in the face of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s crackdown on regime opponents. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu welcomed the conference in his remarks on Tuesday in Mexico during the G-20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting, saying he hopes the result of the conference will be a brand-new initiative to solve the Syrian crisis.
Criticizing the UN Security Council for failing to reach a consensus on the Syrian resolution floated by the Arab League and Turkey but blocked by veto-wielding members Russia and China, Davutoğlu noted on Tuesday that even though the five permanent members of the Security Council discuss and decide a country’s future, those who end up paying the price for those decisions are not just the countries themselves, but also their neighbors and the region.
The diplomat said it has not been decided which country will chair the conference. Turkey has been mentioned as a possible candidate. The EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Catherine Ashton claimed on Monday that Turkey would chair the international meeting in Tunisia, praising Turkey’s seeking of a peaceful resolution to the ongoing conflict in Syria. Amid debates between diplomatic pressure or military intervention to make Assad step aside, Davutoğlu has urged the international community to provide humanitarian aid to Syrian cities under government attack, saying it is the most urgent issue at hand in Syria.
Turkey has a 911-kilometer border with Syria, and about 10,000 Syrians fleeing the violence have sought refuge in Turkey.
Russia says conference one-sided
Russia declared on Tuesday it will not attend, deeming the conference in Tunis one-sided because the Syrian government will not be represented. Stating that all Syrian representatives will be from the opposition, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich on Tuesday said, “The meeting can hardly help start all-Syrian national dialogue in a search for ways to combat the internal crisis.” Russia and China used a double veto on Feb. 4 on a UN Security Council resolution backing an Arab plan calling on Assad to step down, drawing the wrath of the international community. Analysts say that Russia does not want to see a military intervention in Syria similar to the one in Libya.
