Ghalioun: Russia must convince Assad to quit

Burhan Ghalioun, the leader of the opposition Syrian National Council assured Russia that "historical relations" between Syria and Russia would remain, provided that Russia did not abandon the Syrian people. The opposition leader made the statement at a meeting between Ghalioun and Vitaly Churkin, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations on January 30, the eve of the UN Security Council meeting to discuss the situation in Syria and mobilise support for the Arab initiative towards the issue. Ghalioun said: "We emphasised our commitment to the continuation of the historical relations with Russia… the relations that links both the Russian and the Syrian people are enough to provide the necessary guarantees to reach a solution in case Russia accepts the conditions of the Syrian people and confess that Syrians have the right to move towards a democratic regime," pointing that Moscow should not support President Bashar Al-Assad's regime because as "he uses its support to conceal his permanent enslavement of Syrians". Ghalyoun revealed that the Russian ambassador renewed his call for dialogue with the Syrian government in Moscow and he answered saying that the opposition never minded negotiations regarding transferring power to the people, but necessary conditions should be provided for their success headed by the announcement of Assad's stepping down. Meanwhile, he indicated that Russia was discussing the issue from "a totally different perspective than ours...Russia cares for its relation with the West, wherein the issue of the Syrian people should not be a victim of the conflict between the West and Russia… what concerns us is that every country should recogniae the right of the Syrian people to have an elected government representing them." In the meantime, he explained that Russia did not reject his point of view but insisted that they should initiate a dialogue without conditions and put forward the idea of Assad's stepping down during the negotiations, stressing that no opposition would accept to negotiate with a leader who killed his people. He continued saying: "If the Security Council failed in adopting the draft resolution before the Security Council table, there would have been no other option but to wait and see what is going to happen in the square," adding that protest marches would go on and the free army would protect the unarmed civilians and citizens in the absence of any international protection. However, he stressed the importance of the opposition to pressure international public opinion. "There is no longer a room for bargaining on small and partial interests", Ghalioun said, calling Security Council members to "bear responsibility" and take a decision condemning "crimes against humanity". --