Is Annan’s mission in Syria doomed to fail?
As ‘Friends of Syria’ meet in Turkey we ask if the Syrian government will ever heed international calls for a ceasefire.
Calls for an immediate ceasefire from the UN and Kofi Annan, the Arab League special envoy, appear to be failing as a Syrian official announced the army will not pull out its troops from towns and cities.
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“The one thing that Putin can do to influence the situation is helping with weapons, which he can stop…but after meeting with Annan the Russian defence ministry claimed that they will continue giving military help, giving weapons to Syria.“ – Roman Dobrokhotov, a political writer for news website slon.ru |
This comes despite a warning from Turkey’s foreign minister that this is Syria’s “last chance” before facing what it calls “strong measures”.
Ahmet Davutoglu made the statement as Turkey prepares to host 60 world leaders in the latest round of the “friends of Syria” summit.
But even with mounting pressure on the Syrian government, there is no indication they will be able to the stop the violence.
So is Annan’s mission failing? And what’s next for Syria?
Joining presenter Sami Zeidan on Inside Syria to discuss this and more are guests: Ilter Turan, a professor of political science in the International Relations Department of Bilgi University; Roman Dobrokhotov, a political analyst and writer for the news website slon.ru; and Mohammad Bassam Imadi, a Syrian National Council member in the foreign relations committee, and Syria’s former ambassador to Sweden.
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“A major factor was missing in Annan’s plan…the Arab [League] plan demanded that the Syrian president delegate his authority to his deputy. In Annan’s plan there is nothing like that at all [and] still Assad doesn’t want to accept it…” – Mohammad Bassam Imadi, a Syrian National Council member |