SNC STATEMENT : Syrian National Council: The National Coordination Committee Initiative Violates National Consensus, Equates Victim with Murderer

18.8.2012 – The National Coordination Committee issued a memorandum with an initiative concerning the Syrian crisis. It called for a “temporary truce by all parties involved in armed actions,” the release of “all detainees, prisoners, captives, and kidnapped” by “both sides,” allowing relief organizations to deliver aid, and the “start of a political process based on negotiations between all opposition forces and a regime delegation with full negotiation powers.”

It was interesting to see that the initiative by the National Coordination Committee clearly failed to condemn the regime’s barbaric crimes and massacres throughout Syria. It did not hold the regime and its leaders responsible for all the bloodshed, approximately 30,000 martyrs, tens of thousands of injured, and hundreds of thousands of detainees.  It even went further to talk about the “two sides” of the crisis that are equal in terms of the use of force, detention, kidnapping, and obstruction of the delivery of food and medical aid. No Arab or international initiative did this.

They do this while the regime escalates its barbaric crimes by terrifying shelling of innocent cities. On August 15 the Azaz massacre killed approximately 100 civilians. On August 16 the Aleppo massacres killed approximately 90 civilians lined up to buy bread. This initiative equates the victim with the murderer and holds them equally responsible. It is an attempt to demoralize the revolutionaries and the people by saying that the revolution “is still far from a decisive victory.”

The SNC considers this initiative of the National Coordination Committee a violation of the national consensus agreed upon in the opposition meeting in Cairo on 2-3 July. It is a retreat from the most important article that calls for the removal of the regime and its head and the refusal to deal with him and for supporting the Free Syrian Army and the people’s resistance. The initiative gives the regime more time to stay in power while the entire people of Syria absolutely rejected this by continuing to protest for seventeen consecutive months.

The SNC considers any retreat by the National Coordination Committee from the Cairo document including the National Pact and the transitional period document a drift from the rest of the Syrian opposition forces toward such sides that backed and offered initiatives to save the regime as Russia and Iran. Our people will have a say about this and other initiatives that attempt to hijack the Syrian people’s revolution and undermine its accomplishments on the way to reclaim its freedom and dignity.

Blessed be the martyrs of our people!

Speedy recovery to our injured!

Freedom to our prisoners!

Syrian National Council – Press Office  Mobile Phone 1: +90 (531) 664 51 36 – Mobile Phone 2: +90 (537) 558 58 21 – Mobile Phone 3: +33 6 52 81 20 66