Oct 21 Anti-government

Syria dissidents secure Libya embassy promise
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=embassy-in-libya-to-snc-2011-10-20
Thursday, October 20, 2011
İPEK YEZDANİ - ipek.yezdani@hurriyet.com.tr
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

The National Transitional Council of Libya (NTC) has promised to hand over the Syrian Embassy in Tripoli in the coming months to the Syrian National Council (SNC) formed by Syrian dissidents, the Hürriyet Daily News has learned.

"We asked for handing over of the Syrian Embassy in Libya to the SNC during our visit to Libyan transitional authorities a couple of days ago. This kind of act would not be legally recognized, but it would have a symbolic meaning for us. They promised to do so in the near future," Halit Hoca, the SNC Foreign Affairs Committee Turkish representative, told the Hürriyet Daily News in an interview Thursday.

NTC officially recognized the Syrian opposition council 10 days ago and decided to close the Syrian Embassy in Tripoli. Thus Libya became the first country to announce its recognition of the SNC, which was established about one month ago in Istanbul.

Leading members of the SNC visited Egypt two days ago on their return from Libya. The council members met with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil al-Arabi in Egypt and repeated their request for the suspension of Syria's membership from the Arab League.

"There are some countries in the Arab League that are against the suspension of Syria's membership," Hoca said. "Now we are planning to visit those countries such as Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Sudan and Qatar to explain to them the situation in Syria and convince them."

Hoca said their short-term aim was to persuade the international community to isolate Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab League Wagih Hanafi announced Thursday that they had received approval from the Syrian government to receive a ministerial delegation headed by Qatar on Oct. 26, AFP reported.

The delegation will include al-Arabi and the foreign ministers of Algeria, Egypt, Oman and Sudan.

At an urgent session in Cairo on Oct. 16, the Arab League called for "national dialogue" in the Egyptian capital between Syria's government and the opposition by the end of the month to help end the violence and avoid "foreign intervention" in Syria. But the proposal was swiftly slammed by Syria's official media.

Hoca said they would announce the eight members of the SNC executive committee next week in Istanbul. "The leadership team might change according to rotation every three months, so that everybody in the council can have the chance to be part of the decision-making process," Hoca said. The United Nations estimated more than 3,000 people, including 187 children, have been killed in a fierce crackdown on dissent in Syria.