Syrian constitutional committee had a rocky start on the first day of its work in Geneva, with all delegations having quarreled with one another, three members of the committee told Sputnik
GENEVA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st October, 2019) Syrian constitutional committee had a rocky start on the first day of its work in Geneva, with all delegations having quarreled with one another, three members of the committee told Sputnik."There are heavy arguments going on. Everybody with everybody: opposition against the regime, civil society and opposition, everybody," Safwan Akkash, the general secretary of the opposition's Syrian Negotiation Commission, told Sputnik upon exiting from the negotiations room.
Instead of focusing on constitution matters, participants of the committee quarreled about the role of the Syrian army at the first meeting.
"We all have arguments. There are many Syrians who respect the National Syrian Army. And it is unacceptable for them to hear that others are against the National Syrian Army and belong to the army controlled by other countries," Mais Krydee, member of the civil society delegation, told Sputnik, upon exiting from the meeting room.
"We had an argument. Actually before we started, we decided not to talk about the past, but to talk about the future. Everyone has its own view. But they [the government delegation] started to talk a lot about the Syrian army, and their martyrs, trying to give legitimacy to it," Jamal Suleiman, member of the opposition delegation and head of Cairo platform of opposition, told Sputnik.
"Instead of talking about constitution, the regime delegation (and by the way they don't say that they are government delegation, they say 'supported by government'), they started greeting the Syrian army and its fight against terrorism, and they wanted to accuse the other party [opposition] of being terrorists. But this is an event to talk about constitution, but instead of talking about it they are wasting time," he continued.
Suleiman added that the delegations were not leaving and would continue work after the lunch break.
Asked what the reaction of UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen was to the arguments in the room, Suleiman said, "Mr. Pedersen was looking to the right and to the left not knowing what to do."
