Syriac National Council: We must ensure implementation of UN Resolution 2254

ISTANBUL — The Syriac National Council issued a public statement on the 11th anniversary of the start of the Syrian revolution urging for the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2254 which calls for the establishment of a political process that includes all Syrians.

Eleven years have passed since the Syrian revolution began, later turning into a civil war that led to the displacement and emigration of millions, not to mention the division that befell the country as a result of the interference of neighboring countries and international powers.

In this regard, the Syriac National Council said in its statement on this occasion:

“Eleven years have passed since a revolution that was afflicted by injustice and bitterness. It erupted in the children of Daraa in the southwest and the children of Amuda in the northeast. It was peaceful and quickly spread across the various regions of Syria and included all the components of the Syrian people yearning for freedom and dignity, demanding democracy and rejecting tyranny and corruption.”

The SNC statement continued:

“The revolution did not reach a happy end, as it was met with violence and turned into militarization, which had a negative impact on the revolution, as the demonstrations disappeared and the displacement of Syrians to neighboring countries increased. Militarization opened the door for internal and external interference and for the entry of foreign and Arab fighters affiliated with foreign organizations that distorted the revolution.”

The revolution expressed its goals in the desired national democratic transformation, said the SNC, but the regime exploited it to portray the people’s revolution in a sectarian light and reduce it to groups of extremists and terrorists.

The statement added that the official Syrian political opposition represented in the Syrian National Council, and after it in the Syrian National Coalition, also failed to unite Syrians of various backgrounds on the aspirations of the peaceful revolution for freedom and dignity for all Syrians, as it failed to reach a comprehensive political vision for all Syrians which reflected the aspirations of the Syrian people to a genuine pluralistic democratic system that can achieve these aspirations.

The statement concluded:

“We in the Syriac National Council see in the two-chamber parliamentary system the possibility of realizing the aspirations of the Syrians in a state that preserves the rights of Syrians as individuals and groups, and we should and must move forward to implement UN Resolution 2254, which for us means a political process that includes all Syrians, away from any external interference that puts an end to the Syrian tragedy, pain and suffering.”