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Friends of Syria Deliver Nothing New

The radical elements in the Syrian opposition continue to worry the West, writes Tulin Daloglu.
Syria's provisional prime minister Ghasssan Hitto (R), Syrian Opposition Coalition member Suheir Atassi (L) and Syrian National Coalition (SNC) President Mouaz al-Khatib (C) pose for the media after a news conference in Istanbul March 19, 2013. The opposition Syrian National Coalition chose Western-educated former businessman Ghasssan Hitto as provisional prime minister in a vote on Tuesday at a meeting in Istanbul. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3F6TV

“Enough of the ongoing bloodshed,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said during the opening of the press briefing early Sunday morning [April 21] after a six-hour meeting of the Syrian opposition and its 11 main foreign supporters in Istanbul. But the question for the past two years since the Syrians took arms to bring down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime remains unanswered: How will this bloodshed end?

Davutoglu said, “What’s important is that these 11 countries are determined to express a clear support to the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), and that they presented a political will to do all kinds of work to stop the massacres.” These 11 countries besides Turkey are the United States, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Italy, Germany and France.

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