Syria summit in Tunisia aims to give strong message to Assad regime

ROME (A.A) - February 21, 2012 - Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem has said that they wanted to give a strong message to Bashar al-Assad administration in the international conference they would host on February 24. Abdessalem told the AA correspondent in Rome, "We invited all Arab and European countries to the summit on Syria. The purpose of the summit in Tunis is to strongly urge the Syrian administration to stop the killing of the civilian population and meet demands of the Syrian people who want democracy. We are willing to give a strong and united message to the regime in Syria." "The political change is very important in Syria, and the Syrian administration should listen to the demands of the people, which are their legitimate demands. What's happening in Syria is not different from the things happened in Tunisia and Egypt," he said. The Tunisian minister said there was no problem with Syrian opposition groups that would join the conference in Tunisia and expressed that their position was the same as before about the Syria issue. For us, the National Council is the main stream in Syria, Abdessalem said. "Everybody saw what happened in Tunisia. Events began locally and later spread to the whole region. Tunis, Cairo, Sana'a and now Damascus. It is the best for Syrian regulators to meet people's demands." Tunisian Foreign Minister Abdessalem expressed that Turkey and Tunisia were on the same path and Turkey had very positive role in the region.  "Both countries have shared the same history for a long time. Turkey and Tunisia are eligible to work together," he said.