By Abdullah al-Ghadawi; Translation by Rana Abdul
(Zaman al-Wasl)- Hassan Abdel Azim, the general coordinator of the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change, did not hide the impossibility of starting a transitional phase without the presence of Bashar al-Assad, justifying this by explaining that most of the legislative, executive, security and military powers are concentrated in the hands of Bashar al-Assad, the issue which requires his presence for the first six months of the start of the transitional phase, for the power to be transferred to the transitional governance council.
Abdel Azim said in conversation with Zaman al-Wasl, that he noticed the coalition during the last meeting between the council and coalition in Brussels the necessity of accepting al-Assad at the start of the transitional phase, and he called upon them to convince the Europeans and Americans of this… now to the details of the conversation:
Z: What is the importance of the Brussels meeting at a time Syria’s future is headed towards the unknown?
H: The meeting was one of the most important of the coalition’s meetings. It resulted in several workshops the first of it will be on June 27 about the framework for executing the political process with the coalition. In any case regardless of how the Syrian crisis develops, the political forces represented in the coalition, the coordination council, and other national forces will play a political process, when there is a regional and international agreement for a political solution.
Z: What is the role of the workshops?
H: They are a bunch of experts in law, constitution, political and constitutional issues, from both sides, they place a joint executable political framework for the following stage, and it has the support of the European Union.
Z: Is the time appropriate for such workshops… Some see that they do not change anything in the political process, especially as the opposition has left the scales of the balance of the conflict?
H: The Syrian political process does not except anything other than Syrian production, and we do not accept to stand as mere witnesses, meaning that others put the plans and we execute, whereas regarding the opposition being outside circles of influence or conflict, this is just an opinion nothing more. Today there are variables about the Syrian affair, there is a minimal American Russian agreement backed by the European Union and the United Nations, as well as a situation of new positioning regarding Syria… Saudi Arabia and Turkey are seeking more before to reach a political solution, and the regional political climate today is more open to the possibility of a political solution… and this change cannot be ignored.
Z: You speak about regional and international variables, and the desire for a political solution… what is the shape of this solution?
H: The shape of the Syrian solution has become known… according to international decisions, the Geneva 1 statement, and United Nation decisions relating to the Syrian file, which call for the move towards a political transition, and a transitional governance council based on which powers are transferred over the course of two stages, the first 6-7 months in length, and the second 18 months including presidential or parliamentary elections…and this solution’s horizon was drawn through the Vienna statement, Munich, and the related international decisions.
Z: But the knot of al-Assad remaining still holds in the transitional phase?
H: We spoke with the coalition about this, we told them that al-Assad’s sudden departure before the first 6 months of the transitional phase is an impossible condition, and we notified the coalition of this issue, as everyone knows that the legislative, executive and administrative and all other powers are in the hands of the republic’s president, and his absence at the start of the transitional phase to hand over these powers to the transitional governance council raises fears of the collapse of the government, and thus the Syrian state would be harmed for the benefit of an extreme force… and it is not in the benefit of either the opposition nor the Syrian people.
Z: What is the relationship now between the coordination council with the Democratic Union Party (PYD)?
H: We received a letter from the Syrian Democratic Council for talks, and their problem today is that they are without an Arab cover for their project, they suggested federalism and we to do not accept it in this form… but they, it would seem, suggested federalism to get the minimum.
Z: Did a meeting actually occur between you, the coalition and the Democratic Union Party in Brussels?
H: There is no truth to this matter, no meetings occurred there, and there is no need for secret meetings as long as the meetings are to the benefit of the Syrian people.
(Zaman al-Wasl)- Hassan Abdel Azim, the general coordinator of the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change, did not hide the impossibility of starting a transitional phase without the presence of Bashar al-Assad, justifying this by explaining that most of the legislative, executive, security and military powers are concentrated in the hands of Bashar al-Assad, the issue which requires his presence for the first six months of the start of the transitional phase, for the power to be transferred to the transitional governance council.
Abdel Azim said in conversation with Zaman al-Wasl, that he noticed the coalition during the last meeting between the council and coalition in Brussels the necessity of accepting al-Assad at the start of the transitional phase, and he called upon them to convince the Europeans and Americans of this… now to the details of the conversation:
Z: What is the importance of the Brussels meeting at a time Syria’s future is headed towards the unknown?
H: The meeting was one of the most important of the coalition’s meetings. It resulted in several workshops the first of it will be on June 27 about the framework for executing the political process with the coalition. In any case regardless of how the Syrian crisis develops, the political forces represented in the coalition, the coordination council, and other national forces will play a political process, when there is a regional and international agreement for a political solution.
Z: What is the role of the workshops?
H: They are a bunch of experts in law, constitution, political and constitutional issues, from both sides, they place a joint executable political framework for the following stage, and it has the support of the European Union.
Z: Is the time appropriate for such workshops… Some see that they do not change anything in the political process, especially as the opposition has left the scales of the balance of the conflict?
H: The Syrian political process does not except anything other than Syrian production, and we do not accept to stand as mere witnesses, meaning that others put the plans and we execute, whereas regarding the opposition being outside circles of influence or conflict, this is just an opinion nothing more. Today there are variables about the Syrian affair, there is a minimal American Russian agreement backed by the European Union and the United Nations, as well as a situation of new positioning regarding Syria… Saudi Arabia and Turkey are seeking more before to reach a political solution, and the regional political climate today is more open to the possibility of a political solution… and this change cannot be ignored.
Z: You speak about regional and international variables, and the desire for a political solution… what is the shape of this solution?
H: The shape of the Syrian solution has become known… according to international decisions, the Geneva 1 statement, and United Nation decisions relating to the Syrian file, which call for the move towards a political transition, and a transitional governance council based on which powers are transferred over the course of two stages, the first 6-7 months in length, and the second 18 months including presidential or parliamentary elections…and this solution’s horizon was drawn through the Vienna statement, Munich, and the related international decisions.
Z: But the knot of al-Assad remaining still holds in the transitional phase?
H: We spoke with the coalition about this, we told them that al-Assad’s sudden departure before the first 6 months of the transitional phase is an impossible condition, and we notified the coalition of this issue, as everyone knows that the legislative, executive and administrative and all other powers are in the hands of the republic’s president, and his absence at the start of the transitional phase to hand over these powers to the transitional governance council raises fears of the collapse of the government, and thus the Syrian state would be harmed for the benefit of an extreme force… and it is not in the benefit of either the opposition nor the Syrian people.
Z: What is the relationship now between the coordination council with the Democratic Union Party (PYD)?
H: We received a letter from the Syrian Democratic Council for talks, and their problem today is that they are without an Arab cover for their project, they suggested federalism and we to do not accept it in this form… but they, it would seem, suggested federalism to get the minimum.
Z: Did a meeting actually occur between you, the coalition and the Democratic Union Party in Brussels?
H: There is no truth to this matter, no meetings occurred there, and there is no need for secret meetings as long as the meetings are to the benefit of the Syrian people.
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