Many of the Syrian people attending this week’s National Dialogue Conference in Syrian capital Damascus had never imagined Wilde to enter the building in which he was the hero.
“Honestly, this is an indescribable feeling,” Ammer Alzier said, a photographer from the coastal city of Banis, who invited to discuss media freedom at a one -day conference established to work on guidelines for a new Syrian government. Was gone “For a while, I could not believe that we were in the People’s Palace. This is the name, but we knew that it was real was the palace of the palace. [Syria’s former dictator] Bashar Assad. Now we feel that this place is really ours.
“The fact is that Syrians are in the same palace, where Bashar Assad itself is a reason for optimism,” Mohammad Ala Ghanam says, a Syrian advocacy group located in Washington, citizens for C4SSA, or C4SSA Senior Policy Advisor for, or C4SSA. “Both yesterday and today. I have seen amazing diversity within this conference: men and women, young and old people, people from different fields of life, different religions, Muslims, Christians, drains, you name it. Yes, people Missing those who are missing should be here.
Plan for a new government
In mid -February, the Syrian Foreign Minister announced that a new, more representative government would be selected in early March. The small interim government, currently running the country, was elected by the rebellious group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, which led the December attack, which was removed by the Ostead rule. HTS was an east associated with extremist groups like al-Qaeda, but since it took over the Syrian government, HTS leader Ahmed al-Shra, who is now the president of the country, has promoted co-existence and unity.
In January, Al-Shra, which will remain as President even after a new government is established, “declared work on an inclusive government, which reflects the diversity of Syria,” and a process that eventually ” Will lead to free and fair election “.
600 attendees at the conference were to help guide the process, which were divided into work groups to focus on six subjects.
For those who could be there, there was an online questionnaire who was asking what they think about the most important priorities of the country. Reply to estimate 10,000 Syrians worldwide.
By and the elder, the attendant thought that the discussion had gone well in a day’s incident.
“There was nothing limit,” Ala Ghanam told DW. “We did not get any instructions.
Of course there was different opinion within his group, he said. “But what disagreement is very respectable.”
Not all positive
There is no complaint about the conference.
Some attendees questioned whether all those who should have a bee, were really, and whether there was adequate representation from minority communities.
Various Syrian Kurdish groups claimed whether Ether was invited or not came. The new Syrian government is quiet in a conflict with the Syrian Kurdish groups, which controlled the northeastern parts of Syria during more than a decade of the Civil War. It is not clear whether some Kurdish groups want to maintain that control and in fact they will “again” to an integrated Syria.
Other people criticized the findings of the work groups, saying that these were the only things that were discussed by Syrians for years and they did not do anything new.
The principle complaint, however, what was about the method of organizing the meeting. Due to this it was not taken seriously, the critics said.
Madinya Chief Executive Officer, UK-based organization, Savsan Abu Zedin, a UK-based organization, “What was invited, lacks transparency on the criteria to select participants about what was a lack of transparency. Advocates of Syrian Civil Society Told DW in Damascus.
“The very tight deadline has been a huge concern,” he continued.
Some problems in the national dialogue arising from this, the attendees agreed.
Prior to the national dialogue, a seven-member preparation committee said that during more than 30 separate meetings across the country met around 4,000 people, which was under a fortnight. The committee said that it received more than 700 written presentations. But just two days before the conference, the spokesperson of the organizing committee told reporters that it was still not sure about the exact date of national dialogue.
The invitation for the event that had apparently gone out very quickly, it was just a day before it was, and while the committee was still traveling across the country.
This created confusion and it means some invite, which included members of the Syrian opposition who could no longer live outside the country.
“The creation of Syria’s future cannot be reduced in one day event,” Abu Zadin argued. “A long journey of dialogue today should begin.”
Some critics blamed the international community for proceeding so quickly to put pressure on the interim leaders of Syrians, lodging sanctions on a new government. Experts say that it is mandatory for a successful infection in a war-affected country.
“National dialogue should be a very long process, and even a very high-inclusive process,” Labib al-Dahnas, Director of the Group of Advocacy Group Syrian Association for Citizens,, This week told Katri TV network Al Jazra“But because the international community is waiting to see what kind of transitional government will come out of it, and it is to be declared earlier next month, it did not give Syrian enough space and time.”
what happens next?
Although the results of the National Dialogue Conference will be nonbinding, they will not be just “advice”, the preparation committee has said.
A statement was prepared at the end of the conference that emphasized all kinds of discrimination, respect for human rights and rejection of peaceful co -existence principles, among other points – to violate Syria’s regional integrity on the same day. Israel’s criticism was also included. As observers, therefore, he was quickly explained, the statement was secular and did not make religion a framework for future governance.
London -based activist Abu Zadin says that she would like to know more about how the conference results will be used. “We need to be clear about this process so that we can track the results,” she explains.
Alaa Ghanem of C4SSA concluded after the conference, “Whether or not this conference is successful, its litmus test is whether the recommendations we have produced or not, want to consider the delegates and how they will be adopted in a transitional system.” “If they do not take care that this is just for the show. But right now, I am optimistic.”
Edited by: Anne Thomas
