Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi
TEHRAN
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has
proposed that observers from a contact group on Syria comprising Iran, Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, and Turkey be dispatched to the crisis-hit country and announced
that Tehran is ready to host a meeting of the group.
According to a statement issued by the Iranian
Foreign Ministry on Monday, Salehi made the remarks during a foreign
ministerial meeting of the group that was held in Cairo on the same day.
The meeting in Cairo was described as the
quartet meeting of the foreign ministers of Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and
Turkey, but neither Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal nor any other
Saudi Arabian official attended the meeting.
Egyptian presidential spokesman Yasser Ali and
an unidentified Arab League official said that Faisal did not attend the
meeting for health reasons, but Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr
stated that Faisal’s absence was due to previously arranged engagements,
Reuters reported on Monday.
After the meeting in Cairo, the Egyptian
foreign minister announced that the contact group would meet again on the
sidelines of the 67th regular session of the United Nations General Assembly,
which opened at the UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday and closes on
September 30.
Following is the translation of the Iranian
Foreign Ministry statement:
Foreign Minister Dr. Ali Akbar Salehi put
forward the approach and the road map proposed by the Islamic Republic of Iran
to find a way out of the Syrian crisis at the quartet meeting of the foreign
ministers of Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.
Within this framework, on Monday… our
country’s foreign minister proposed (the following points) for discussion at
the Cairo meeting:
1)
Announcing a halt to the conflict and the violence by both sides simultaneously;
2)
Emphasizing the peaceful settlement of the crisis without foreign intervention;
3)
Ending any kind of financial, military, and training support to armed groups;
4)
Launching talks between the Syrian government and the opposition;
5)
Establishing a national reconciliation committee with the participation of all movements and groups;
6)
Dispatching observers from the four countries to supervise the process of ending the violence and holding negotiations;
7)
Emphasizing the necessity of maintaining Syria’s cohesion, national unity, and territorial integrity;
8)
Contributing to the process of fundamental reforms;
9)
Realizing a Syrian-Syrian democratic approach.
Dr. Salehi also pointed to the fact that the
suffering of the Syrian people, (and) particularly the sanctions and economic
punishments, necessitate that Muslim countries, including the four known
regional powers (scheduled to be) present at the meeting, intensify and pool
their efforts to ship economic and humanitarian aid and proposed that a
committee be established to end the suffering of the Syrian people for the
realization of this goal.
The foreign minister emphasized that the
Syrian people should determine their (own) destiny themselves and within the
framework of maintenance of territorial integrity, independence, sovereignty,
and national unity, and said, “Regional countries should ensure the
accomplishment of this process through utilization of all resources and the
current potential and constant consultation.”
He emphasized, “While emphasizing the
necessity of the implementation of fundamental reforms, the Islamic Republic of
Iran, throughout the Syrian developments, has proposed feasible and practical
solutions to help end the violence by both sides and initiate a dialogue
between the Syrian government and the opposition… (at) the Tehran Consultative
Meeting on Syria, which was held with the participation of 30 countries (on
August 9), and also… (at) the Mecca summit (on August 14 and 15) and… the
recent meeting of the Non-Aligned (Movement) countries in Tehran (from August
26 to 31).”
Salehi emphasized that most regional countries
are concerned about the repercussions of the armed presence of extremist
movements on regional security and stability, and said,
“We believe that the complete failure of political solutions can pave the way for fitna (sedition) in various forms and its spread to neighboring countries and the entire region.”
He added,
“Unfortunately, most Western countries, which are in a quandary (due to their failure to) perceive the realities and the mission of regional nations’ uprisings, have closed their eyes to the realities of the region by prioritizing the interests of the Zionist regime and are preventing the realization and the implementation of true reforms in Syria and the region through providing comprehensive financial and military support to unknown armed groups.”
In addition, our country’s foreign minister
pointed to the good potential of the Non-Aligned Movement to play an effective
role in regional and global developments after the holding of the summit of the
heads of state (and government) of the Non-Aligned (Movement) in Tehran and
described the participation of Iran and Egypt of the NAM troika in the Cairo
meeting as beneficial and called for the inclusion of Venezuela, as a member of
the troika of the Non-Aligned Movement, and Iraq, as the rotating president of
the Arab League, to the present group so that the current constructive process
will come to fruition.
Salehi pointed to the necessity of the
continuation of consultation between the participants of the Cairo meeting and
active movements and groups in Syria, and added, “Such consultations can offer
new prospects, not only in regard to Syrian developments but also in regard to
current and future crises, and, according to this perspective, the Islamic
Republic of Iran is ready to host the next round of the meeting (of the contact
group) in Tehran.”
At the beginning of his speech, the foreign
minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran thanked the Egyptian government for
hosting the quartet meeting and also the deputy (foreign ministers) meeting (on
September 10) and said that this illustrates the prevalence of collective
wisdom in the region.
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