:00:07. > :00:16.mosque in west London disguised as a woman in a burka. Time now for
:00:17. > :00:21.HARDtalk. The first formal negotiations with the Syrian
:00:22. > :00:26.government and opposition leaders, as the Geneva two conference, will
:00:27. > :00:29.soon. The UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has been in Damascus to meet
:00:30. > :00:39.President Assad in preparation for the talks. What of the opposition?
:00:40. > :00:48.Like yesterday is Monzer Akbik, the chief of staff to the Syrian and the
:00:49. > :00:50.coalition. `` Syrian National Coalition. However, there is
:00:51. > :00:53.disarray in rebel ranks about whether they should attend the talks
:00:54. > :00:55.at all. So is the opposition scuppering the best chance to end
:00:56. > :01:28.the bloodshed in Syria? Monzer Akbik in Istanbul, welcome to
:01:29. > :01:34.HARDtalk. Do you accept that the only solution to the Syrian conflict
:01:35. > :01:39.is a political negotiated one, not a military solution? Right now it
:01:40. > :01:47.appears to be that a military solution, will be long`term. That is
:01:48. > :01:55.according to the current situation and circumstances. If there is any
:01:56. > :02:00.political solution that would lead to a meaningful solutions are the
:02:01. > :02:09.problem, a power transition, think it should be grabbed. A power
:02:10. > :02:14.transition. I will echo what your leader has said on the 3rd of
:02:15. > :02:21.November to Arab League foreign ministers. The opposition will not
:02:22. > :02:24.attend the talks unless the Resnick clear timeframe for a President
:02:25. > :02:29.Assad to leave power. Can you clarify for as? You would go to
:02:30. > :02:34.these talks as long as is a timetable for a President Assad to
:02:35. > :02:46.step down? Yes, because this is exactly what Geneva two says. It was
:02:47. > :02:51.issued on the 30th of June to 12. It was a document that has been agreed
:02:52. > :02:55.by the five permanent members of the Security Council of the UN, along
:02:56. > :03:02.with other countries who are directly involved in the Syrian
:03:03. > :03:08.affairs. This document was meant for the solution of the Syrian problem.
:03:09. > :03:11.It's as clear that there should be a genuine, meaningful and irreversible
:03:12. > :03:16.power transition, or political transition. That may be the case,
:03:17. > :03:20.but I was asking whether you will attend the talks. You know that the
:03:21. > :03:26.UN envoy, also envoy for the Arab League, Lakhdar Brahimi, has called
:03:27. > :03:30.upon you to attend these talks without setting any preconditions.
:03:31. > :03:40.And yes, you are sitting preconditions. These are not
:03:41. > :03:42.conditions, the Security Council resolution says that the
:03:43. > :03:52.international conference that has to be held now should be for the
:03:53. > :03:56.plantation of the Geneva communique. They are setting the rules of
:03:57. > :04:00.engagement in line with what it says. We are going there not to
:04:01. > :04:11.communicate from scratch, we are going back to undertake the Geneva
:04:12. > :04:14.communique. This means that they should be a political transition in
:04:15. > :04:19.Syria towards a transitional governing body. So you will you
:04:20. > :04:23.attend these talks? They were to take place November. It is now
:04:24. > :04:30.looking unlikely. What is the problem? Why aren't you going to
:04:31. > :04:40.Geneva? We can say will not go. We said there are a few things that
:04:41. > :04:46.need to be addressed. The starvation going on in many areas, especially
:04:47. > :04:50.around Damascus, because of the siege that the regime is inflicting.
:04:51. > :04:54.There are more than 2 million people under starvation siege. This has
:04:55. > :05:02.nothing to do with the war, it has nothing to do with the crisis, this
:05:03. > :05:06.is a war crime. We said that the corridors for food and medicine
:05:07. > :05:11.should be provided. So you want to take place. I know you are referring
:05:12. > :05:17.to this awful starvation, we have had some religious leaders declaring
:05:18. > :05:24.that human beings can eat cats and dogs because of the starvation. I
:05:25. > :05:34.use it in this as a precondition? `` are used setting this. This is not a
:05:35. > :05:39.shoe in Syrian situation caused by an act of nature, it is caused by
:05:40. > :05:42.the regime forces blocking those areas and not allowing food and
:05:43. > :05:49.medicine to reach them. In order for us to go to the table and start
:05:50. > :06:06.negotiations for the plantation of political transition, at least, are
:06:07. > :06:13.2 million people should be's the Red Cross should be able to deliver food
:06:14. > :06:21.and medicine to them. And what is the other thing that you want to see
:06:22. > :06:29.happen before you go to Geneva? Again, the Geneva conference is for
:06:30. > :06:33.the implementation of the Geneva communique. Because three political
:06:34. > :06:44.transition. We want to know the tools. President Assad will not
:06:45. > :06:46.allow a power transition. If he was willing to do that, he would not
:06:47. > :06:53.kill the hundreds of thousands of people. What are the tools that the
:06:54. > :07:00.international community will use to get President Assad out of power.
:07:01. > :07:05.That is imported rice to understand. When we implemented, we want to know
:07:06. > :07:16.the tools that if all be permitted with. What is the timeframe product?
:07:17. > :07:20.I put it to you, you are setting certain conditions that you wanted
:07:21. > :07:25.before you attended these talks. You said you are not setting conditions,
:07:26. > :07:29.you have just said, we will not go unless this happens, and that
:07:30. > :07:36.happens. That sounds exactly like what you are doing. You could be
:07:37. > :07:43.portrayed as the ones who are an obstacle to peace negotiations.
:07:44. > :07:50.Again, I disagree. These are not conditions. What is meant for the
:07:51. > :07:54.conference is to uphold the Geneva communique. When you are going to
:07:55. > :07:58.such an important conference you have to prepare for it. The
:07:59. > :08:03.timeframe for this transition to take place, it months or weeks? Is
:08:04. > :08:11.it years? It is something we need to know. This schedule, how it will be
:08:12. > :08:16.implemented. The Geneva communique says the bombings should be stopped.
:08:17. > :08:32.When will the bombing restocked? The beginning of the conference? The end
:08:33. > :08:36.of the conference? Let me... It is about the implementation of Geneva.
:08:37. > :08:42.There should be a clear schedule how this communique will be... You're
:08:43. > :08:51.not getting that, but the Syrian regime says, we are happy to attend
:08:52. > :08:58.these talks. A respected commentator said, to insist that the president
:08:59. > :09:04.stepped down or give a timeframe as a precondition, will not work today,
:09:05. > :09:09.only a favourable military balance can allow the condition. Today the
:09:10. > :09:13.opposition is at a disadvantage. You are making these demands, but you
:09:14. > :09:25.are not in any powerful position to see them carried out. He has set in
:09:26. > :09:31.several interviews that he will stay in power and he will run in the
:09:32. > :09:35.election in 2014. His Foreign Minister said that if somebody is
:09:36. > :09:38.thinking that we are going to the conference in order to hand over
:09:39. > :09:43.power or make a political transition, then they are completely
:09:44. > :09:48.mistaken. Obviously they are not serious about this. It would bring
:09:49. > :09:51.this back to what we had earlier. What are the tools that will be used
:09:52. > :10:03.in order for this conference to succeed? What you that leveraged to
:10:04. > :10:05.come from? You do not have the military advantage. Where will it
:10:06. > :10:15.come from? The international community? Of course. For example,
:10:16. > :10:19.there should be a Security Council resolution under chapter seven. When
:10:20. > :10:26.President Assad used chemical weapons to slaughter people in
:10:27. > :10:30.Damascus suburbs, when the US threatens to use force against him,
:10:31. > :10:37.he immediately went ahead and handed over those chemical weapons. Before
:10:38. > :10:43.that, in 2005, when Americans also threatened him, he withdrew from
:10:44. > :10:51.Lebanon. It is obvious that this dictator, he will only cooperate on
:10:52. > :10:56.the force. The force can come from the Security Council resolution
:10:57. > :11:01.under chapter seven. That will happen with Russians. They have
:11:02. > :11:06.blocked any kind of force being used at the Security Council. We even
:11:07. > :11:12.know that nationally, within the US there is opposition. In the UK there
:11:13. > :11:18.was a vote against any military action. Even the French president.
:11:19. > :11:29.Where do you think is helpful come from? `` help will come from. I am
:11:30. > :11:34.saying that the resolution will help the leveraged that we are talking
:11:35. > :11:39.about. The Russians were part of the Geneva to Medicare. They agreed that
:11:40. > :11:50.a political transition should take place. `` Geneva communique. They
:11:51. > :11:56.have expressed a need for a regime change, human rights, they have
:11:57. > :12:03.agreed to that. They believe the bombing should stop, the DK knees
:12:04. > :12:09.should leave. No one is doing anything about what they are seeing.
:12:10. > :12:13.The Americans said several times that President Assad has lost
:12:14. > :12:25.legitimacy and has to go. No one is doing anything regarding that. Just
:12:26. > :12:29.yesterday, secretary Kerry said that President Assad is starting his
:12:30. > :12:33.people. Is it OK that people are starving to death? Is it OK that
:12:34. > :12:44.people are being bombed and killed every day? We need to see a result
:12:45. > :12:51.from the international community. `` Eddie `` a resolve. You have 6
:12:52. > :12:58.million people displaced as refugees. Here you are, urged to
:12:59. > :13:04.attend talks, but you are setting rules. Are you expecting help from
:13:05. > :13:15.Saudi Arabia? We had reports in the Washington Post that Saudi Arabia
:13:16. > :13:20.will expand training locations and increased firepower being sent to
:13:21. > :13:29.troops. Is that whether helpful come from? There are more than 100
:13:30. > :13:34.countries that are friends of the Syrian people. They are supporting
:13:35. > :13:43.the revolution, including the US, UK, France. The Saudis are also
:13:44. > :13:47.supporting the revolution. Western countries are also helping. The
:13:48. > :13:52.problem is that it has always been the same case that the help was not
:13:53. > :14:02.enough and the political stand was an enough. That is not just what has
:14:03. > :14:07.been described around the world, this is a revolution against a
:14:08. > :14:11.brutal regime. The regime has committed and is still committing
:14:12. > :14:14.crimes against humanity. This is not the case of a civil law where the
:14:15. > :14:22.two parties need to reach a negotiation solution. When the army
:14:23. > :14:26.of any country is making this genocide and making mass killings of
:14:27. > :14:31.the people, it is the responsibility of international community is to not
:14:32. > :14:37.allow that. This can happen any time in history. It happened in other
:14:38. > :14:48.countries, and people still regret not interfering. We lost 1 million
:14:49. > :14:50.lives. You talk about the two science, but in fact around just two
:14:51. > :14:53.science. If you look at the opposition, there is about a
:14:54. > :14:59.thousand armed groups fighting, and even within your own coalition there
:15:00. > :15:04.are people saying different things. General Idriss saying, we support
:15:05. > :15:10.every political solution, but under one condition, President Assad must
:15:11. > :15:13.be brought for the court. He is talking about some kind of caught
:15:14. > :15:18.there. You also have 19 of the most powerful rebel groups saying we are
:15:19. > :15:26.opposed to the whole process of Geneva to, and anyone attending
:15:27. > :15:30.would be committing treason. You have a very disunited opposition,
:15:31. > :15:37.and it is hard to work out you represent, although you can speak on
:15:38. > :15:44.the half of. `` on behalf. If you go to all the parties that you are
:15:45. > :15:49.talking about. First of all, the ten or 19 brigades that you are talking
:15:50. > :15:52.about, they are not most of the Free Syrian Army, in fact they don't
:15:53. > :15:56.represent more than ten or 15% of the Free Syrian Army. And they have
:15:57. > :16:00.this opinion, and it is obvious that members of the coalition, obviously
:16:01. > :16:04.every member has different opinions, this happens in all the parliaments
:16:05. > :16:08.of the world it is natural. If you talk to all of these parties,
:16:09. > :16:12.underground, the fighting forces, the politicians, the activist,
:16:13. > :16:17.everyone will fancy the same question. That there should be no
:16:18. > :16:24.solution, there will be no solution in Syria if Assad stays in power. If
:16:25. > :16:27.this regime is the problem, you have to get rid of this problem in order
:16:28. > :16:34.to start reaching a solution. You say the regime is the problem, let's
:16:35. > :16:39.just carry on with that. But there are a lot of groups, as I said,
:16:40. > :16:42.fighting against Assad. Several of them have a very clear ambition and
:16:43. > :16:48.aim to set up an Islamist state in Syria, you have yourself said that
:16:49. > :16:53.you are committed to a democratic future, and a secular one, for
:16:54. > :16:57.Syria. But you have got these extremist elements, suicide
:16:58. > :17:04.bombings, bombing power stations outside the mastics and people are
:17:05. > :17:11.plunged into darkness, and this is allowing the regime to say that we
:17:12. > :17:24.are a student against this kind of extremism taking hold. `` outside
:17:25. > :17:27.Damascus. If some of the people, for example, they have a certain opinion
:17:28. > :17:36.about the type of state that they want to have. They have certain
:17:37. > :17:39.political opinions. Does this allow the Assad regime to bomb all these
:17:40. > :17:45.areas and kill all these people? These are crimes. The people
:17:46. > :17:49.underground, of course, any people in the whole world if you go and ask
:17:50. > :17:52.many people you will find they have different comprehension of how the
:17:53. > :17:59.state should be, how the politics should be. Some people, they want
:18:00. > :18:05.Parliament, they want Islamic, some people want more liberal. Many
:18:06. > :18:12.people with different... There are many Jihadists. We have the Greeks,
:18:13. > :18:18.the Islamic Army. The point I am making is that there is a perceived
:18:19. > :18:22.threat that the Jihadist are gaining the upper hand in Syria. The
:18:23. > :18:28.International Crisis Group had a report coming out saying that, and
:18:29. > :18:34.one person from the Brookings Institute has said that people are
:18:35. > :18:37.buying into Assad's narrative that his regime is a barrier to extremist
:18:38. > :18:45.groups. And that is a big one for you. That is what Assad wants. And
:18:46. > :18:48.this is the doing of Assad himself. These people are not Free Syrian
:18:49. > :18:51.Army, and they are not opposition. In fact, they are not fighting the
:18:52. > :18:57.regime, and the regime is not fighting them, and not bombing them.
:18:58. > :19:00.They come over from Iraq, Assad sends Al Qaeda elements to Iraq to
:19:01. > :19:06.kill Americans, and now they come back to Syria from Iraq, and many of
:19:07. > :19:10.the suspicions that the Assad regime is helping those people, because he
:19:11. > :19:17.wants to enforce or strengthen that narrative. He wants to show the west
:19:18. > :19:20.that he is fighting Al Qaeda. Now, in the media they are saying that
:19:21. > :19:26.they are fighting Al Qaeda, but in fact they asked fighting the Syrian
:19:27. > :19:29.people. We know, Human Rights Watch have documented that there are some
:19:30. > :19:32.extreme rebel fighters, whichever group they might belong to, who are
:19:33. > :19:43.committing atrocities against civilians. Outside left tacky in
:19:44. > :19:53.August, 100 `` 190 civilians were killed. The point I want to make, is
:19:54. > :19:58.what consequences that for? `` what consequence is that like for the
:19:59. > :20:09.extreme opposition like you? One quote, the combination of the rise
:20:10. > :20:16.of Al Qaeda, makes Assad seemed not as bad as he once seemed. Well, the
:20:17. > :20:22.Obama administration, American officers are always telling us that
:20:23. > :20:29.they already believe very much that there will be no solution in Syria
:20:30. > :20:35.if Assad stays. Actually, John Kerry said that, I think, yesterday in
:20:36. > :20:39.Cairo, when he said that you should not think that all that any
:20:40. > :20:43.ceasefire could be achieved in Syria if Assad stays in power. This is the
:20:44. > :20:49.position that is announced. It has also been announced by the other
:20:50. > :20:56.core group members of Friends of Syria, in 11 countries, when they
:20:57. > :21:00.met in London, 27th of October, and there was a London communique
:21:01. > :21:06.issued, staying in the second paragraph that Assad and his
:21:07. > :21:11.immediate associates, who have blood on their hands, should not have any
:21:12. > :21:16.role in future Syria. This is a realistic vision, and this is a
:21:17. > :21:24.vision which can lead to a real solution in Syria. So, we know what
:21:25. > :21:29.our people want. We know that the Syrian people have aspirations. If
:21:30. > :21:34.we go to any process, and again, we will come back to the beginning of
:21:35. > :21:41.the conversation, if we go to any process, that will not achieve the
:21:42. > :21:46.very thing that will lead us to a real solution to the problem, then
:21:47. > :21:52.everything will be in vain. Why don't you just go, as, I mean,
:21:53. > :21:56.earlier this year, General Idriss made the comment that the opposition
:21:57. > :22:02.should just go to Geneva and make that amount that Assad stepped
:22:03. > :22:12.down. Why did you do that? The whole world is waiting for that? This is
:22:13. > :22:16.exactly what will happen. We will set the preparations now for this to
:22:17. > :22:20.succeed. We want this to succeed, the preparation has to take place,
:22:21. > :22:25.and this is exactly what we intend to do. Cannot put you that the
:22:26. > :22:29.fractured nature of the opposition, as I was putting to you, and you
:22:30. > :22:33.have the Al Qaeda affiliated groups and other extremists, so you have
:22:34. > :22:36.this problem with the rising radicals are amongst the rebel
:22:37. > :22:42.fighters, the increasing complexity of Syria's battlelines, this is all
:22:43. > :22:47.really very bad news for your mainstream umbrella opposition
:22:48. > :22:54.group, the National Syrian coalition, isn't it? Again, Al
:22:55. > :22:57.Qaeda, we cannot call them opposition. They are strangers,
:22:58. > :23:04.intruders who came in and they have completely different agendas and the
:23:05. > :23:08.rebels who want to end the dictatorship and have a democratic
:23:09. > :23:13.state. Now, yes, if you are talking about Al Qaeda, were worried what is
:23:14. > :23:19.happening. Al Qaeda is a global threat, after all, and it has to be
:23:20. > :23:22.dealt with globally. When the regime is bombing or the areas, and all the
:23:23. > :23:29.people who are left, and the Free Syrian Army is busy fighting the
:23:30. > :23:36.regime, with a massive gap in firepower between us and the regime,
:23:37. > :23:40.of course there are vacuum places that the forces are able to
:23:41. > :23:44.penetrate. We are worried from that penetration, were worried about them
:23:45. > :23:53.being there with strange ideology, it is not an ideology that we agree
:23:54. > :23:58.with. This has to be dealt with, and we need help from all over the world
:23:59. > :24:02.in order to address this danger. We are unable to fight on two fronts at
:24:03. > :24:08.the same time. It is so difficult. The regime front is difficult
:24:09. > :24:15.enough, as I said, we have light arms, not heavy arms like regime
:24:16. > :24:21.has. And we have at our backs, stabbing us in our backs, Al Qaeda.
:24:22. > :24:46.Thank you very much for joining us. You are welcome.
:24:47. > :24:52.Monday wasn't too bad across the country, we saw plenty of sunshine,
:24:53. > :24:56.a lot of dry weather but it was certainly cold. In the rest of the
:24:57. > :25:04.week it remains very unsettled. Lots of low pressure systems pushing in
:25:05. > :25:08.from the Atlantic. There is our window of fine weather, Mondays
:25:09. > :25:10.whether pushing away eastwards, to be replaced by streams of rain
:25:11. > :25:13.bearing cloud and