Assad: No transition possible in Syria as long as opposition remains in control of some areas

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad said yesterday that no timetable should be put forward for a transitional period in the country as long as some areas remain under the control of militant opposition groups.

“The timetable, if you want to talk about schedule, this timetable starts after starting defeating terrorism,” Al-Assad said in an interview with the Italian TV channel Rai Uno, as quoted by Syria’s official news agency SANA.

“If we talk after that, one year and a half to two years is enough for any transition,” he added. “It’s enough. I mean, if you want to talk about first of all having a new constitution, then referendum, then parliamentarian elections, then any kind of other procedure, whether presidential or any other thing, [it] doesn’t matter. It won’t take more than two years.”

Al-Assad noted that the timetable depends on an agreement being reached by all Syrian parties to the conflict. “If we don’t reach it in 18 months, so what? You have many things that I think are trivial now, or let’s say, not essential,” SANA quoted him as saying.

The Syrian president added that he believes the parliamentary elections that are proposed to be held during the transitional period will show which of Syria’s political forces has real weight among the Syrian people, which will be translated into seats in the parliament and a stake in the government.

“[I]f the Syrians, in their dialogue, they wanted to have presidential elections, there’s nothing called a red line, for example, regarding this. But it’s not my decision. It should be about what the consensus is among the Syrians,” he said.