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Politician says Syrian opposition should unite around political program

Mana’a said the Syrian opposition believes Russia might render assistance to their country in rehabilitating the infrastructure

MOSCOW, November 29 (Itar-Tass) — Syria’s political opposition should unite on the basis of a single platform, the chairman of the Syria Salvation Conference organizing committee, Raja al-Nasser said Thursday after talks between a delegation of the Syrian domestic opposition and the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov.

He indicated that the bulk of opposition forces should relocate to the Syrian territory and their relocation will provide the necessary prerequisites for unification.

“We think the opposition should pool its ranks together on the basis of a political program,” Al-Nasser said. “It’s important to make sure that this unity is based on mutual understanding.”

“The opposition should have clear objectives concentrated on building a democratic state,” he said. “We object to the logic that admits of the presence of only one political party or only one legitimate representative, as this would mean a return to the so-called ‘revolutionary legitimacy’ at the expense of democracy.”

“In the light of it, we call for the convocation of a second Cairo conference where the representatives of the entire spectrum of Syrian opposition forces might be present,” Al-Nasser said.

The Syrian opposition does not object to negotiations with the opposite side but it objects to the negotiations the way that President Bashar al-Assad views them, Haitham Mana’a, the chairman of Syria’s National Coordination Committee told the same news conference.

“We’re not saying the talks are impossible but they should be held there and then where and when the conditions for them are good, that is, when violence stops and we’re against a dialogue the way Assad views it,” Mana’a said.

“And we’ll speak only to the people whose hands aren’t stained with blood,” he said.

Mana’a said the Syrian opposition believes Russia might render assistance to their country in rehabilitating the infrastructure.

“We have a long-time relationship with Russia and if you take Russia’s possible assistance, the case in hand is different from giving two or three million dollars to each side,” he said.

“We need to restore our infrastructures, for instance, to buy ambulance cars,” Mana’a said. “We discussed this with the Russian side but let’s stay away from going into details now because each side has to think everything over on its own.”