Syria dissidents expect solid steps from summit
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Turkish FM Davutoğlu (R) meets with SNC leader Burhan Ghalioun on March 2.
Syrian dissidents will demand that decisions are taken by the international community for the arming of the Free Syrian Army and the creation of a “humanitarian corridor” for civilians fleeing the violence, during the second Friends of Syria meeting in Istanbul on 1 April.“The first conference in Tunisia was OK, but we haven’t seen any solid reactions and steps taken for the sake of the Syrian people on the ground. We want to see some concrete steps taken in this conference. Something needs to be done urgently to protect the civilians in Syria,” Syrian National Council (SNC) Executive Committee member Mahmoud Osman told the Hurriyet Daily News in an interview on 30 March.
The SNC Executive Committee wants to be recognized as “the only legitimate representative of the Syrian people” at the meeting, Osman added.
Osman said only Qatar and Saudi Arabia had given limited financial aid to the Syrian dissidents after the conference in Tunisia, and that no other countries had offered any concrete help to the dissidents.
“We want the international community to take decisions to arm the FSA, to open a humanitarian corridor in one of the countries bordering Syria and to provide humanitarian aid for the Syrian civilians. These are our demands, they (international community) will decide how to do it,” Osman said. The first Friends of Syria meeting was held in Tunisia in late February and the third one will be held in Paris next month.
