TURKEY / SYRIA: Syrian opposition pledges unity as masses turn out in support of president

Record ID: 278810

  • Title: TURKEY / SYRIA: Syrian opposition pledges unity as masses turn out in support of president
  • Date: 21st July 2011
  • Summary: ISTANBUL, TURKEY (JULY 20, 2011) (REUTERS) ORGANISERS OF NATIONAL SALVATION CONFERENCE FIDA AL MECZUP AND EMADEDDIN AL-RACHID HOLDING NEWS CONFERENCE MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) MEMBER OF SYRIAN OPPOSITION, FIDA AL MECZUP, SAYING: "We are looking forward to finish from the congress inside Syria to move forward in a very solid, ground future steps and what we can see at
  • Embargoed: 5th August 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey, Syrian Arab Republic
  • City:
  • Country: Turkey Syrian Arab Republic
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAA6PDY5A69U4SEGEEAUL3SI26S
  • Story Text: Exiled Syrian opposition members vowed on Wednesday (July 20) to work with all groups in the country to maintain unity and prevent an outbreak of sectarian violence.
    Syrian opposition factions met in Istanbul on Saturday (July 16) and formed a broad-based council in the hope of creating a government-in-waiting to fill a void if street protests succeeded in toppling President Bashar al-Assad.
    Addressing a news conference in Istanbul, organisers of the National Salvation Conference, Fida al Meczup and Emadeddin al-Rachid, said the priority is ensuring the safety of the Syrian people.
    "We are looking forward to finish from the congress inside Syria to move forward in a very solid, ground future steps and what we can see at this stage that the Syrian people, they have no turning points at all and all our efforts is to protect them and look after their needs," Meczup said.
    Syria, a mostly Sunni nation of 20 million people with Kurdish, Alawite and Christian minorities, is vulnerable to sectarian tensions.
    Syrian President Bashar al-Assad belongs to the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, and his opponents say he increasingly relies on loyalist Alawite troops and irregulars known as 'shabbiha'.
    The Alawite sect represents about 11 per cent of the population in Syria. The sect's long-time dominance has bred seething resentments, which Assad has worked to reduce by enforcing a strictly secular identity in Syria.
    He has tried to dampen enthusiasm for the revolt by blaming the unrest on "armed gangs" and a foreign plot to sow sectarian strife.
    "From what we can see in the last few months, the Syrian people worked together. No place in our Syrian imagination for the Syrian people and for Syrian nation, as to just hijack or to prevent any of their rights, any of the sectarian or the groups in Syria from their rights. We will work always for a unity in the Syrian nation," Meczup told the news conference.
    The conference was supposed to run simultaneously to the one which was due to held in Syria, but the latest attacks on protesters prompted the opposition to cancel the conference which was to take place in Damascus.
    Some 350 people attended the "National Salvation Congress" in Turkey but many came from outside Syria, having left the country years if not decades earlier.
    The opposition figures agreed to form a 25-member council to appoint an 11-member committee that will organise another conference aimed at creating a government-in-waiting.
    Syrian dissidents in exile plan to confer with the international community to drum up support to topple the regime, but one of the organizers, Emadeddin al-Rachid underlined they would never accept military intervention in Syria.
    "We reject any military intervention in Syria. We would like to affirm that the Syrian sense of nationalism stops them from accepting any such measures. We also received assurances from the Syrian protesters that if this (military intervention) happens, they will dress in military uniforms and join their military to defend their land," he said.
    Syrian authorities blame "armed terrorist groups" with Islamist links for the violence and said at least 500 policemen and soldiers have been killed since March.
    Meanwhile, thousands took to the streets of the Syrian town of Suweyda in support of Assad, Syrian TV reported.
    Crowds marched with a huge Syrian flag, held posters with Assad's picture and chanted in support of the military and the president.
    Syrian TV said the flag was 2,300-metres long.
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