Socialist International backs Syrian uprising

The Socialist International (SI) Special Committee on the Arab World called today on the United Nations Security Council, especially Russia and China, to act in line with the international community to protect the Syrian people in Istanbul, Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Speaking at the two-day meeting’s final sitting, SI President and former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said the organization stood firmly on the side of the Syrian people in their fight for democracy and human rights but opposed any intervention by Turkey against Syria.

“The Bashar al-Assad regime refuses to accept that change is inevitable. Consequently, we have fully backed the efforts of the United Nations and the Arab League for an end to the killing, for the protection of the lives of Syrian citizens and a humanitarian response which we see as a fundamental imperative,” Papandreou said in the meeting’s closing statement.

Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu also said that “if war is not inevitable, it is murder” in reference to saying of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey. He also added that his party opposed the creation of a buffer zone between Turkey and Syria.