Syrian National Council

The Syrian National Council (Arabic المجلس الوطني السوري, DMG al - maǧlis al - Watani al- Suri, Kurdish Encûmena Nîştimanî ya Suri, Syro -Aramaic ܡ ܘ ܬ ܒ ܐ ܐ ܘ ܡ ܬ ܢ ܝ ܐ ܕ ܣ ܘ ܪ ܝ ܐ Mawtbo umṯonoyo d Suriya; SNC) is a Syrian opposition alliance against the Baath government Bashar al -Assad.

The National Council is based in Istanbul and was established 23 August 2011 in the wake of the Syrian Civil War. It has 270 members. President of the Council since the November 9, 2012 Georges Sabra; previously had held and Burhan Ghaliun ( August 2011-June 2012 ) this office Abdel Baset Seida ( until November 2012 June). The deputy Faruk Taifur, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Syrian National Council has said it is trying to the Syrian opposition. In its founding statement, he spoke out against military intervention in Syria from the outside, but there are increasing demands for protection or no-fly zone. The National Council supports the Free Syrian Army, a rebel group, which consists of the deserted staff of the Syrian armed forces, as well as foreign fighters.

Background and founding

After the Damascus Spring to have been founded in order to create a platform against the Assad government in 2005, a National Council of Syria. As the Arab Spring erupted, formed Syrian opposition groups several opposition councilors.

The Syrian National Council itself was founded on August 23, 2011 in Istanbul, and indicates to represent the concerns and demands of the Syrian people. The spokesman for the Syrian National Council, Yaser Tabbara, claims that the membership of the Council 115 to 120 members from all Syrian opposition groups, including the now incorporated and dissolved the National Council of Syria includes. The Council has the names of 71 members, most of them Exilsyrer announced.

Paris-based Syrian academic Burhan Ghaliun, spokesman for the Syrian National Council, was declared in September 2011 as Chairman of the National Council. On 2 October 2011, the Syrian National Council declared its formal organizational links and structure: It contains a General Assembly, a Secretariat and an Executive Committee 6-7 persons whose names are kept secret for security reasons.

Members

On June 10, 2012 was replaced as chairman of the National Council Burhan Ghalium by Abdel Baset Seida Kurds. Another member was up to the voluntary retirement Ghaliuns Haytham al - Malih. In addition, by the end of August 2012 was living in France Bassma Kodmani to the Council. Kodmani was a member of the Bureau and head of the Foreign Affairs of the Syrian National Council. Kodmani was the center of the power structure very close and was one of the most important spokesman of the Executive Committee.

The Syrian National Council claims to represent about 60 % of the Syrian opposition: The membership comprises mainly the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria and is of the Damascus Declaration, the Assyrian Democratic Organization of Kurdish dissidents, but also of several independent Syrian dissidents and of the Local coordinating Committee - a group organizing demonstrations - supported. Most members are in exile, even though the Council strives to maintain the support of Syria itself and to protect the anonymity of supporters in Syria.

A secular member of the National Council declared that more than half of the Council of Islamists there. According to an official from a Gulf state of some of the members of the National Council for years have lived abroad. The only Kurdish party in Syria, which is connected to the Council, " future now " is under the leadership of Mishal Tammo, who was assassinated in a shortly after his announcement of support for the Syrian National Council in the northeastern city of Qamishli.

Criticism

The creation of the Syrian National Council met with mixed reactions and criticism from another opposition alliance of Syria, the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change, which mainly left secular and nationalist groups, independent dissidents and Kurdish parties includes, all of which have their base in Syria. The General Commission of the Syrian Revolution refuses to cooperate with the Syrian National Council.

According Abdulhakim Bashar, the Secretary General of Democratic Party of Kurdistan - Syria, the opposition Syrian National Council " too much influenced by Turkey ". It calls for guarantees for the Kurdish population of Syria by the National Council and says that Turkey would then in turn forced to grant the Kurdish population in Turkey the same rights.

In August 2012, joined the spokeswoman for the Syrian National Council, Bassma Kodmani, back and has the organization accused of a loss of credibility. It is the National insufficiently managed to coordinate the work of Syrian opposition groups and insurgents on the spot, Kodmani told the French radio RFI. You have repeatedly stressed the need for closer cooperation with the insurgents. The National Council had the hopes and reasonable expectations of the revolutionaries in Syria disappointed in their view.

At a conference in November 2012 in Qatar presented the dissident Riad Seif presented at the beginning of the five- day meeting, a plan that will push back the influence of the current dominant Syrian National Council. The exile organization should receive only 22 seats in the 55 - member Executive Board of the National Coalition for opposition and revolutionary forces in order to make room for the fighting in Syria rebels. National Chief Abdelbaset Sieda other hand demanded 40 percent of the seats.

International Relations

The first UN member state to recognize the Syrian National Council as the sole legitimate representative of Syria, was mid-October 2011 Libya, the end of November followed France. Several other states have welcomed the establishment of the Council and maintain contacts with the Council, including Spain and bordering on the north by Syria Turkey under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The Democratic Alliance for Egypt the Syrian National Council also recognized as Syria's legitimate representative. The National Council itself has asked for international recognition and plays by its own account is currently a role as a government in exile.