Press Release by Moscow Platform

Press Release by Moscow Platform

Monday, 12 March, Mr. Hadi Al-Bahra, a member of the Syrian Negotiation Commission, delivered a speech outside the session of the UN Security Council, in an informal meeting called by members of the Council in accordance with what is known as "Arria-formula".

First, Mr. Al-Bahra speech was not undergone any consultation within the Commission, and despite his promise to submit a draft of the speech two days ago, Mr. Al-Bahra did not keep his word.

Second, the speech included a demand for members of the Security Council to carry out military action in Syria from outside the Council, and therefore outside, and against, the international legitimacy. Furthermore, Mr. Hadi Al-Bahra did not even find it problematic to recall the notorious example of Bosnia as an example he hoped to apply in Syria!

We, in the Moscow platform, express our rejection of this statement which is contrary to international legitimacy and international law. At the same time, we stress the following:

First, The attempts of some members within the commission to mute the voice of reason and give the upper hand to that aberrant voice related to the illusions and tails of the US-Western intervention, will only further isolate and weaken these voices.

Secondly, the totalitarian behaviors practiced by some extremists in the Commission – including violation of the rules of procedure of the Commission; attempts to exclude rational voices from a series of international meetings under tricky pretexts and arguments; and violation of the most basic democratic values, are nothing more than miserable attempts to “conceal the sun with a slender finger”.

Thirdly, all attempts to bypass the mission of the Special envoy, representative of the Secretary General, Mr. Staffan de Mistura, and to seek other mediators of the Security Council to communicate with the UN organizations, whether with the General Assembly or the Security Council – are attempts aimed at destroying and obstructing the efforts made to start the dialogue; the implementation of the SC resolution 2254; and the activation of the political path option through the Intra-Syrian dialogue. These attempts also aim at implementing regional and international geopolitical objectives that are far from the interests of the Syrians in maintaining Syrian territorial integrity and sovereignty on all Syrian soil, including the Syrian Golan which is occupied by the Zionist “Israel”.

Fourthly: The end of the humanitarian catastrophe that our Syrian people are suffering from in all parts of Syria, and outside Syria, in Ghouta, Damascus, Idlib, Homs, and also in Afrin which is not mentioned and its victims are even worthless in the eyes of some of those in the opposition (as long as the aggressor is Turkey) the end of this catastrophe should be done  by adhering to the international law, the international legitimacy, the UNSC resolutions 2254 and 2401, and by reacting positively to efforts in this direction, not by acting against it, as the same extremist group in the commission did, and not by demanding to violate the international legitimacy, as Mr. Al-Bahra did.

Finally, we, in the Moscow platform, insist on the political solution in accordance with resolution 2254, and to work positively to activate the results of Sochi, especially the Constitutional Reform Committee. We rely on the voice of reason within the negotiating commission which will be the highest voice.

Damascus
13 March 2018

Last modified on Tuesday, 13 March 2018 02:14