Ahad 06 Jan 2013 22:14 WIB

Reactions to Assad's speech

Foto: Reuters/Majed Jaber

Syrian refugees watch a television broadcast of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad speaking in Damascus, in their container at the Al-Zaatari refugee camp in the Jordanian city of Mafraq, near the border with Syria, January 6, 2013.

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BEIRUT - Syria's opposition rejected a proposed peace initiative announced in a speech by President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday, saying it was aimed at wrecking diplomatic efforts to end the civil war. "Assad simply wanted, with the initiative he proposed, to cut the road to reaching a political solution that may result from the forthcoming American-Russian meeting with (U.N. mediator Lakhdar) Brahimi, which the opposition would not accept unless he and his regime leave," National Coalition spokesman Walid Bunni.

European Union

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must step down in order to bring about a political solution to the war in his country, the European Union's foreign policy chief said on Sunday. The statement followed Assad's statement that he would not neogiatate with the forces trying to overthrow him.

"We will look carefully if there is anything new in the speech but we maintain our position that Assad has to step aside and allow for a political transition." a spokesman for EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said.

Britain

British Foreign Secretary William Hague accused Assad of hypocrisy and said his call in a speech on Sunday for a peace initiative to end the civil war would fool no one. "Assad speech beyond hypocritical. Deaths, violence and oppression engulfing Syria are his own making, empty promises of reform fool no one," he said in a message on Twitter.

Turkey

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Sunday the United Nations needed to take a clear stance on Syria and send a message to Assad not to prevent the distribution of aid. "If it is clear now that Assad will not do anything new, then the UN Security Council must decide on a stance on the situation in Syria," Davutoglu said, after Assad gave a speech in Damascus.

Davutoglu said Assad had simply repeated empty promises in his speech in Damascus on Sunday, and called for a swift transition in the war-torn country. "His remarks are just repetitions of what he's said all along. They are the same promises he made to us," Davutoglu said. "As Assad no longer has the representative authority over the Syrian people, his words have lost persuasiveness ... A transition period needs to be completed swiftly through talks with representatives of the Syrian nation."