Monzer Akbik - Syrian National Coalition HARDtalk


Monzer Akbik - Syrian National Coalition

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mosque in west London disguised as a woman in a burka. Time now for

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HARDtalk. The first formal negotiations with the Syrian

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government and opposition leaders, as the Geneva two conference, will

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soon. The UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has been in Damascus to meet

:00:27.:00:29.

President Assad in preparation for the talks. What of the opposition?

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Like yesterday is Monzer Akbik, the chief of staff to the Syrian and the

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coalition. `` Syrian National Coalition. However, there is

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disarray in rebel ranks about whether they should attend the talks

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at all. So is the opposition scuppering the best chance to end

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the bloodshed in Syria? Monzer Akbik in Istanbul, welcome to

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HARDtalk. Do you accept that the only solution to the Syrian conflict

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is a political negotiated one, not a military solution? Right now it

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appears to be that a military solution, will be long`term. That is

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according to the current situation and circumstances. If there is any

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political solution that would lead to a meaningful solutions are the

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problem, a power transition, think it should be grabbed. A power

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transition. I will echo what your leader has said on the 3rd of

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November to Arab League foreign ministers. The opposition will not

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attend the talks unless the Resnick clear timeframe for a President

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Assad to leave power. Can you clarify for as? You would go to

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these talks as long as is a timetable for a President Assad to

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step down? Yes, because this is exactly what Geneva two says. It was

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issued on the 30th of June to 12. It was a document that has been agreed

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by the five permanent members of the Security Council of the UN, along

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with other countries who are directly involved in the Syrian

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affairs. This document was meant for the solution of the Syrian problem.

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It's as clear that there should be a genuine, meaningful and irreversible

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power transition, or political transition. That may be the case,

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but I was asking whether you will attend the talks. You know that the

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UN envoy, also envoy for the Arab League, Lakhdar Brahimi, has called

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upon you to attend these talks without setting any preconditions.

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And yes, you are sitting preconditions. These are not

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conditions, the Security Council resolution says that the

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international conference that has to be held now should be for the

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plantation of the Geneva communique. They are setting the rules of

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engagement in line with what it says. We are going there not to

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communicate from scratch, we are going back to undertake the Geneva

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communique. This means that they should be a political transition in

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Syria towards a transitional governing body. So you will you

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attend these talks? They were to take place November. It is now

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looking unlikely. What is the problem? Why aren't you going to

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Geneva? We can say will not go. We said there are a few things that

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need to be addressed. The starvation going on in many areas, especially

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around Damascus, because of the siege that the regime is inflicting.

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There are more than 2 million people under starvation siege. This has

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nothing to do with the war, it has nothing to do with the crisis, this

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is a war crime. We said that the corridors for food and medicine

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should be provided. So you want to take place. I know you are referring

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to this awful starvation, we have had some religious leaders declaring

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that human beings can eat cats and dogs because of the starvation. I

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use it in this as a precondition? `` are used setting this. This is not a

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shoe in Syrian situation caused by an act of nature, it is caused by

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the regime forces blocking those areas and not allowing food and

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medicine to reach them. In order for us to go to the table and start

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negotiations for the plantation of political transition, at least, are

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2 million people should be's the Red Cross should be able to deliver food

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and medicine to them. And what is the other thing that you want to see

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happen before you go to Geneva? Again, the Geneva conference is for

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the implementation of the Geneva communique. Because three political

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transition. We want to know the tools. President Assad will not

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allow a power transition. If he was willing to do that, he would not

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kill the hundreds of thousands of people. What are the tools that the

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international community will use to get President Assad out of power.

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That is imported rice to understand. When we implemented, we want to know

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the tools that if all be permitted with. What is the timeframe product?

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I put it to you, you are setting certain conditions that you wanted

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before you attended these talks. You said you are not setting conditions,

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you have just said, we will not go unless this happens, and that

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happens. That sounds exactly like what you are doing. You could be

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portrayed as the ones who are an obstacle to peace negotiations.

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Again, I disagree. These are not conditions. What is meant for the

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conference is to uphold the Geneva communique. When you are going to

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such an important conference you have to prepare for it. The

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timeframe for this transition to take place, it months or weeks? Is

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it years? It is something we need to know. This schedule, how it will be

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implemented. The Geneva communique says the bombings should be stopped.

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When will the bombing restocked? The beginning of the conference? The end

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of the conference? Let me... It is about the implementation of Geneva.

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There should be a clear schedule how this communique will be... You're

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not getting that, but the Syrian regime says, we are happy to attend

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these talks. A respected commentator said, to insist that the president

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stepped down or give a timeframe as a precondition, will not work today,

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only a favourable military balance can allow the condition. Today the

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opposition is at a disadvantage. You are making these demands, but you

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are not in any powerful position to see them carried out. He has set in

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several interviews that he will stay in power and he will run in the

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election in 2014. His Foreign Minister said that if somebody is

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thinking that we are going to the conference in order to hand over

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power or make a political transition, then they are completely

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mistaken. Obviously they are not serious about this. It would bring

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this back to what we had earlier. What are the tools that will be used

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in order for this conference to succeed? What you that leveraged to

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come from? You do not have the military advantage. Where will it

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come from? The international community? Of course. For example,

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there should be a Security Council resolution under chapter seven. When

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President Assad used chemical weapons to slaughter people in

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Damascus suburbs, when the US threatens to use force against him,

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he immediately went ahead and handed over those chemical weapons. Before

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that, in 2005, when Americans also threatened him, he withdrew from

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Lebanon. It is obvious that this dictator, he will only cooperate on

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the force. The force can come from the Security Council resolution

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under chapter seven. That will happen with Russians. They have

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blocked any kind of force being used at the Security Council. We even

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know that nationally, within the US there is opposition. In the UK there

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was a vote against any military action. Even the French president.

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Where do you think is helpful come from? `` help will come from. I am

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saying that the resolution will help the leveraged that we are talking

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about. The Russians were part of the Geneva to Medicare. They agreed that

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a political transition should take place. `` Geneva communique. They

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have expressed a need for a regime change, human rights, they have

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agreed to that. They believe the bombing should stop, the DK knees

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should leave. No one is doing anything about what they are seeing.

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The Americans said several times that President Assad has lost

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legitimacy and has to go. No one is doing anything regarding that. Just

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yesterday, secretary Kerry said that President Assad is starting his

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people. Is it OK that people are starving to death? Is it OK that

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people are being bombed and killed every day? We need to see a result

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from the international community. `` Eddie `` a resolve. You have 6

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million people displaced as refugees. Here you are, urged to

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attend talks, but you are setting rules. Are you expecting help from

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Saudi Arabia? We had reports in the Washington Post that Saudi Arabia

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will expand training locations and increased firepower being sent to

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troops. Is that whether helpful come from? There are more than 100

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countries that are friends of the Syrian people. They are supporting

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the revolution, including the US, UK, France. The Saudis are also

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supporting the revolution. Western countries are also helping. The

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problem is that it has always been the same case that the help was not

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enough and the political stand was an enough. That is not just what has

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been described around the world, this is a revolution against a

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brutal regime. The regime has committed and is still committing

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crimes against humanity. This is not the case of a civil law where the

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two parties need to reach a negotiation solution. When the army

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of any country is making this genocide and making mass killings of

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the people, it is the responsibility of international community is to not

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allow that. This can happen any time in history. It happened in other

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countries, and people still regret not interfering. We lost 1 million

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lives. You talk about the two science, but in fact around just two

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science. If you look at the opposition, there is about a

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thousand armed groups fighting, and even within your own coalition there

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are people saying different things. General Idriss saying, we support

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every political solution, but under one condition, President Assad must

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be brought for the court. He is talking about some kind of caught

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there. You also have 19 of the most powerful rebel groups saying we are

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opposed to the whole process of Geneva to, and anyone attending

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would be committing treason. You have a very disunited opposition,

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and it is hard to work out you represent, although you can speak on

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the half of. `` on behalf. If you go to all the parties that you are

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talking about. First of all, the ten or 19 brigades that you are talking

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about, they are not most of the Free Syrian Army, in fact they don't

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represent more than ten or 15% of the Free Syrian Army. And they have

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this opinion, and it is obvious that members of the coalition, obviously

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every member has different opinions, this happens in all the parliaments

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of the world it is natural. If you talk to all of these parties,

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underground, the fighting forces, the politicians, the activist,

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everyone will fancy the same question. That there should be no

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solution, there will be no solution in Syria if Assad stays in power. If

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this regime is the problem, you have to get rid of this problem in order

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to start reaching a solution. You say the regime is the problem, let's

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just carry on with that. But there are a lot of groups, as I said,

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fighting against Assad. Several of them have a very clear ambition and

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aim to set up an Islamist state in Syria, you have yourself said that

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you are committed to a democratic future, and a secular one, for

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Syria. But you have got these extremist elements, suicide

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bombings, bombing power stations outside the mastics and people are

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plunged into darkness, and this is allowing the regime to say that we

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are a student against this kind of extremism taking hold. `` outside

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Damascus. If some of the people, for example, they have a certain opinion

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about the type of state that they want to have. They have certain

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political opinions. Does this allow the Assad regime to bomb all these

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areas and kill all these people? These are crimes. The people

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underground, of course, any people in the whole world if you go and ask

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many people you will find they have different comprehension of how the

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state should be, how the politics should be. Some people, they want

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Parliament, they want Islamic, some people want more liberal. Many

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people with different... There are many Jihadists. We have the Greeks,

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the Islamic Army. The point I am making is that there is a perceived

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threat that the Jihadist are gaining the upper hand in Syria. The

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International Crisis Group had a report coming out saying that, and

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one person from the Brookings Institute has said that people are

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buying into Assad's narrative that his regime is a barrier to extremist

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groups. And that is a big one for you. That is what Assad wants. And

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this is the doing of Assad himself. These people are not Free Syrian

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Army, and they are not opposition. In fact, they are not fighting the

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regime, and the regime is not fighting them, and not bombing them.

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They come over from Iraq, Assad sends Al Qaeda elements to Iraq to

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kill Americans, and now they come back to Syria from Iraq, and many of

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the suspicions that the Assad regime is helping those people, because he

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wants to enforce or strengthen that narrative. He wants to show the west

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that he is fighting Al Qaeda. Now, in the media they are saying that

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they are fighting Al Qaeda, but in fact they asked fighting the Syrian

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people. We know, Human Rights Watch have documented that there are some

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extreme rebel fighters, whichever group they might belong to, who are

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committing atrocities against civilians. Outside left tacky in

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August, 100 `` 190 civilians were killed. The point I want to make, is

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what consequences that for? `` what consequence is that like for the

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extreme opposition like you? One quote, the combination of the rise

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of Al Qaeda, makes Assad seemed not as bad as he once seemed. Well, the

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Obama administration, American officers are always telling us that

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they already believe very much that there will be no solution in Syria

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if Assad stays. Actually, John Kerry said that, I think, yesterday in

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Cairo, when he said that you should not think that all that any

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ceasefire could be achieved in Syria if Assad stays in power. This is the

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position that is announced. It has also been announced by the other

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core group members of Friends of Syria, in 11 countries, when they

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met in London, 27th of October, and there was a London communique

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issued, staying in the second paragraph that Assad and his

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immediate associates, who have blood on their hands, should not have any

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role in future Syria. This is a realistic vision, and this is a

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vision which can lead to a real solution in Syria. So, we know what

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our people want. We know that the Syrian people have aspirations. If

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we go to any process, and again, we will come back to the beginning of

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the conversation, if we go to any process, that will not achieve the

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very thing that will lead us to a real solution to the problem, then

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everything will be in vain. Why don't you just go, as, I mean,

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earlier this year, General Idriss made the comment that the opposition

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should just go to Geneva and make that amount that Assad stepped

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down. Why did you do that? The whole world is waiting for that? This is

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exactly what will happen. We will set the preparations now for this to

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succeed. We want this to succeed, the preparation has to take place,

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and this is exactly what we intend to do. Cannot put you that the

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fractured nature of the opposition, as I was putting to you, and you

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have the Al Qaeda affiliated groups and other extremists, so you have

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this problem with the rising radicals are amongst the rebel

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fighters, the increasing complexity of Syria's battlelines, this is all

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really very bad news for your mainstream umbrella opposition

:22:43.:22:47.

group, the National Syrian coalition, isn't it? Again, Al

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Qaeda, we cannot call them opposition. They are strangers,

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intruders who came in and they have completely different agendas and the

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rebels who want to end the dictatorship and have a democratic

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state. Now, yes, if you are talking about Al Qaeda, were worried what is

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happening. Al Qaeda is a global threat, after all, and it has to be

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dealt with globally. When the regime is bombing or the areas, and all the

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people who are left, and the Free Syrian Army is busy fighting the

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regime, with a massive gap in firepower between us and the regime,

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of course there are vacuum places that the forces are able to

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penetrate. We are worried from that penetration, were worried about them

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being there with strange ideology, it is not an ideology that we agree

:23:45.:23:53.

with. This has to be dealt with, and we need help from all over the world

:23:54.:23:58.

in order to address this danger. We are unable to fight on two fronts at

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the same time. It is so difficult. The regime front is difficult

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enough, as I said, we have light arms, not heavy arms like regime

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has. And we have at our backs, stabbing us in our backs, Al Qaeda.

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Thank you very much for joining us. You are welcome.

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Monday wasn't too bad across the country, we saw plenty of sunshine,

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a lot of dry weather but it was certainly cold. In the rest of the

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week it remains very unsettled. Lots of low pressure systems pushing in

:24:57.:25:04.

from the Atlantic. There is our window of fine weather, Mondays

:25:05.:25:08.

whether pushing away eastwards, to be replaced by streams of rain

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bearing cloud and

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