An international conference with the ambitious aim of ending the Syrian
civil war is set to begin Wednesday in Switzerland as controversy
rumbles on about Iran's association with the talks.
FULL STORY
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WHAT'S AT STAKE AT TALKS?
Syria defiant at conference; Kerry rules out al-Assad
By Michael Pearson, Elise Labott and Saad Abedine, CNN
January 22, 2014 -- Updated 2238 GMT (0638 HKT)
Syria: Rebels can't be arsonist and fireman
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: "The solution for Syria should be made by the Syrian people," says one official
- Wednesday's session an important "first, small step," U.N. chief says
- U.S. Secretary of State Kerry says Bashar al-Assad has lost "legitimacy to govern"
- Dozens of world powers are meeting to try to help end a war that has killed 100,000
(CNN) -- A preliminary session of Syrian peace talks
meant to end three years of bloodshed was an important "first, small
step," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday after a morning
of bitter exchanges.
Speaking to reporters
after the first leg of talks, Ban said a "difficult road" lay ahead, but
the time had come for negotiations.
"We did not expect
instant breakthroughs from today's conference, but the seriousness and
horror of the situation has focused all minds, and there is a
determination that all parties will find a way to peace," he said.
"We have a difficult road ahead, but it can be done and it must be done. It
is still not too late to end the bloodshed and find the peaceful and
democratic future. The moment to act decisively and courageously is
now."
Syria earlier had struck a
defiant tone, laying a record of atrocities -- rape, arson, even the
destruction of Syrian culture itself -- at the feet of rebels and
chiding outsiders for trying to interfere.
"This is a Syrian conflict, and it will remain as such," Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem told the conference.
Deep divides in Syria peace talks
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His remarks came after
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the path to peace had to involve
the world community, and could not include Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad, whom he accused of widespread human rights abuses.
"Mr. Kerry," al-Moallem
said, "nobody in the world has the right to get rid of the legitimacy of
a president or a constitution or a law or anything in Syria except the
Syrian people themselves."
His comments were echoed by Bouthaina Shaaban, a senior adviser to al-Assad.
"Why do they decide from
the Western world that Bashar al-Assad stands in the way for peace? Do
we have the right to decide that any Western leader is not good for his
people? Or is it the people usually who decide in every country who
should be president?" she asked CNN.
"Put a mechanism for a
political process after putting an end to this terrorism. And then let
the Syrian people decide for themselves," Shaaban said.
The State Department
later issued a statement saying that, "Instead of laying out a positive
vision for the future of Syria that is diverse, inclusive and respectful
of the rights of all, the Syrian regime chose inflammatory rhetoric."
"The fact remains the
devastating circumstances created by the regime on the ground in Syria
will not be changed by inaccurate words, they will only change through
the implementation of the Geneva communique including the creation (of) a
transitional governing body and by the regime taking real, concrete
steps to increase humanitarian access and improve the lives of the
people suffering the most," the State Department said.
The back-and-forth
helped to deflate already sagging hopes that the conference will find a
way to end the violence in Syria. But
analysts say there is hope that progress can be made on improving the situation for the most vulnerable victims of the civil war.
The violence has claimed
more than 100,000 lives since 2011. The war has become increasingly
sectarian, drawing in Syria's regional neighbors and forcing out more
than 2 million refugees, many of them children.
Kerry, al-Moallem and
Ban joined diplomats from Russia and other world powers in Montreux to
take part in the talks, which seek to set up a transitional government
under a plan hashed out in Geneva in 2012 to end the conflict.
The preliminary
international session started Wednesday. Direct talks between the Syrian
government and opposition delegations are scheduled for Friday in
Geneva.
"The solution for Syria
should be made by the Syrian people inside Syria -- not in Geneva,"
Shaaban, the adviser to al-Assad, told CNN's "The Situation Room with
Wolf Blitzer."
"We have to acknowledge
that there is a huge campaign against the Syrian government for the last
three years and the aim is not the Syrian government. The aim is the
destruction of Syria, the destruction of the Syrian people for only the
benefit of Israel. That is the true story that is happening in Syria,"
she said.
In his opening comments,
Kerry accused the al-Assad government of using unspeakable brutality
against its own people to maintain its grip on power.
"The right to lead a
country does not come from torture, nor barrel bombs, nor Scud
missiles," Kerry said. "It comes from the consent of the people."
His comments drew applause from Syrian National Coalition President Ahmad Jarba, who
said on Twitter, "We thank Secretary Kerry for his strong comments in support of the Syrian people's struggle for freedom & dignity."
At the talks, Jarba held
pictures of victims of alleged regime abuse. He made clear that the
SNC, the main Syrian opposition group, sees no role for al-Assad in a
transitional government.
Al-Moallem, however,
blamed rebels for the atrocities, accusing them of killing and raping
civilians, burning down libraries and looting artifacts from museums.
In the only specific
instance he offered, he told the tale of one man who he said blew up
himself and his family rather than face rebels, whom he called "the
barbaric people."
"Don't be misled by the
campaign of lies," he said, lashing out, over Ban's objections, at
Turkey and other nations that have supported Syrian rebels.
Shaaban told CNN that Syrian authorities have not used chemical weapons.
"Chemical weapons were
used by these terrorists, and we know the countries who have been
helping them. It is a terrible crime what's happening against the Syrian
people, and it is basically through foreign intervention," she said.
In what appeared to be a
first, Syrian state television carried the speeches live -- including
many derogatory references to al-Assad -- albeit with wording on the
screen ridiculing the speakers or painting them as puppets acting
against Syrian interests.
In a sign of the Syrian
regime's disdain for the Arab League -- which suspended the regime's
membership after its crackdown in 2011 -- Syrian state-run TV labeled
the League's secretary-general with a scornful caption Wednesday: "Nabil
Al-Arabi is speaking on behalf of the Saudi-Qatari petro-dollar that
dictates him and the Arab League."
Most outside support for rebel forces has come from the Gulf monarchies of Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
'Nothing is going to be easy'
At the press conference,
Kerry stressed that the Geneva communique, with its call for political
transition, was the paramount focus of the summit.
"It's no secret that getting to where we are now has been difficult. Peace and stability will not arrive overnight," he said.
"But it is important
that this process is now in place, it's important that the government
and opposition will sit down in these next days."
He said while a sudden
breakthrough should not be expected, "what we do expect is a
crystallizing of the difference: Who stands for what? Who is really
fighting for what? Whose arguments are based on truth? Whose arguments
are based on facts?"
U.N. mediator Lakhdar Brahimi acknowledged "nothing is going to be easy" as he expressed hope both sides would meet on Friday.
The opposition and Iran
Several high-profile complications emerged even before the talks started, setting the tone for a challenging conference.
The Syrian National
Coalition didn't decide until Saturday whether it would attend, finally
agreeing in a vote that revealed deep divisions within its ranks.
One of the groups in the
coalition blasted it for agreeing to participate in the talks, accusing
it of heading to Geneva with "a folder of concessions and withdrawals."
And furor has surrounded
the embarrassing public announcements by Ban, who invited -- and then
disinvited -- Iran to the conference.
Iran is a key supporter
of al-Assad's regime. Western leaders believe Iran has provided military
and intelligence support to Syrian government forces. In addition,
fighters from the Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah have
seen combat in Syria on the side of the government.
The controversy over Iran threatened to derail the talks at one point.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov chided the United Nations on Tuesday for its abrupt U-turn on Iran, following pressure from the main Syrian opposition group and the United States.
Iran had already
announced that it wouldn't be attending the peace conference because it
would not tolerate any preconditions for joining the talks -- including
acceptance of the framework laid out in the 2012 Geneva conference that
foresees a transitional government.
Lavrov called Ban's
reversal a mistake, but "not a catastrophe," adding that Russia and
others will push for balanced talks between those representing al-Assad
and the rebels. Moscow has been a longtime ally of the Syrian
government.
He pointed out that Kerry, among others, recognized publicly that Iran is an important player in resolving the Syrian conflict.
Russian Prime Minister
Dmitry Medvedev told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that the talks cannot be
taken seriously without Iran involved.
"The thing that has
happened with the withdrawal of the invitation to Iran, I believe that's
unacceptable," Medvedev said in an exclusive interview that aired
Wednesday on CNN's "Amanpour." "Can someone think the Syrian problem can
be seriously discussed without the Iranian factor and their account of
it?"
Besides the United
States and Russia, the other permanent members of the U.N. Security
Council -- Britain, France and China -- are attending the conference,
along with more than 25 other countries. Representatives of the Arab
League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the European Union
will also take part.
Syrian approach
Al-Assad, whose forces
have regained momentum against a now-fractured opposition, has said he's
not looking at the talks as a way to transition out of power.
Syrian officials have
talked instead about the conference as a way to arrange a cease-fire in
Syria's largest city, Aleppo, with hopes of extending that truce to
other parts of the country.
Al-Assad has called for the conference to include a focus on fighting "terrorism," his government's term for rebel forces.
"The war has caused
horrible suffering to the Syrian people and I think that the question is
why do these countries support terrorism in our country," Shaaban,
al-Assad's adviser, told CNN.
"The objective is to destroy a secular, moderate beautiful example in the Arab world," she said.
In a meeting with
Syria's delegates to the talks, al-Assad directed them to preserve their
nation's sovereignty by "preventing and rejecting any foreign
interference no matter its form and context," the state-run Syrian Arab
News Agency reported Monday.
Al-Assad also said no
political solution could be reached without the agreement of the Syrian
people and "first and foremost the complete cessation of terrorism" and
its support by other countries, the news agency said.
CNN's Jason Hanna, Marie-Louise Gumuchian,
Holly Yan, Laura Smith-Spark, Ben Brumfield, Matt Smith, Chelsea J.
Carter, Shirzad Bozorgmehr, Christine Theodorou, Samira Said, Becky
Anderson and Nick Paton Walsh contributed to this report.
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