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Agence France-Presse in Istanbul

Syria’s main opposition grouping has said it will attend peace talks on the condition President Bashar al-Assad transfers power and is excluded from any transition process.
In a statement issued on Monday after two days of meetings in Istanbul, the key National Coalition said it would take part in mooted peace talks in Geneva “on the basis of the full transfer of power”.
It also stipulated “that Bashar al-Assad and those with the blood of Syrians on their hands have no role in the transitional phase and Syria’s future”.

Speaking in Abu Dhabi, US Secretary of State John Kerry said any decision by the opposition to take part in talks would be a “big step”.
“We take note of the fact that ... the Syrian opposition voted to go to the Geneva II [conference]. This is a big step forward and a significant one,” Kerry said.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague told parliament MPs “I strongly welcome” the opposition’s readiness to attend the talks.
“We continue to push for a date for a peace conference to be agreed, and UN and Arab League Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has reiterated that he is still trying to convene a conference before the end of the year,” he said.
Syrian opposition figures have long said that Assad should have no role in any political transition process, insisting he must step down.
But the Syrian government, while expressing willingness to attend the proposed Geneva conference, insists that Assad’s departure from power is not up for discussion.

Monday’s statement, issued by the Coalition’s General Assembly, also calls for the establishment of humanitarian aid corridors and for the release of prisoners.
“The Coalition also requires that prior to the conference, aid convoys from the Red Cross and Red Crescent and other aid groups be granted continued access to besieged areas,” the statement said.
And it demands “the release of detainees, especially women and children,” without providing additional details.
The international community led by the United States and Russia have been seeking for months to convene a Syria peace conference in Geneva.
But proposed dates for the conference have come and gone with no progress towards talks.
The Syrian National Council, a key Coalition member, has previously threatened to leave the umbrella grouping if some of its members agree to attend Geneva talks.
But Monzer Aqbiq, an adviser to Coalition president Ahmed Jarba, said on Monday the Council appeared to have changed their mind.
“The resolution has been approved quasi-unanimously,” he said of the statement released on Monday.
“They have obviously changed their mind because they voted yes for the text.”
Aqbiq said persuasion and explanation of the goal of the talks had helped convince some sceptics.
“There are many groups that when you’re explaining to them that political transition means that the regime will change, they immediately know how it is and say OK,” he added.
But the gaps in the consensus Aqbiq described were already clear.
“Whether or not to go to Geneva is the decision of the Syrian people,” said Louay Safi, a member of the Syrian National Council and a spokesman for the Coalition, in a statement on Sunday.
“The Coalition is nothing but a mechanism to apply their will.”
The spokesman also rejected any idea of an Iranian presence at the talks.
“We consider Iran to be a country which occupied Syria,” he said.
The opposition wrapped up its Istanbul meeting late on Monday by nominating nine “ministers” for an interim government charged with running Syrian territory in rebel hands.
 


Syria opposition ready to attend peace talks, with conditions 

President of the Syrian National Coalition Ahmed Jarba. Photo: AFP

US Secretary of State John Kerry at a news conference in Abu Dhabi on Monday. Photo: AFP

Elusive Syria peace talks delayed by rivals’ divisions 

UN Joint Special Representative for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi. Photo: EPA

US sceptical over Syria's chemical weapons declaration 

UN vehicles carrying OPCW inspectors in Damascus. Photo: Reuters

United States ambassador to the UN Samantha Power (right). Photo: EPA

Sigrid Kaag, head of the joint OPCW-UN mission to Syria. Photo: Xinhua

Envoy pushes Syria peace talks as UN warns of child hunger

United Nations Peace Envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi. Photo: Reuters

A woman and a child take part in the evacuation of a Damascus suburb on Thursday. Photo: Xinhua

Nineteen rebel groups fighting in Syria reject Geneva talks

Al-Nusra Front fighters take part in a parade calling for the establishment of an Islamic state in Syria. Photo: AFP

UN aid chief demands Security Council action on Syria access 

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Co-ordinator Valerie Amos. Photo: EPA

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National Coalition agrees to attend Geneva II conference  “on the basis of the full transfer of power” from President Bashar Al-Assad
