Addressing the 8th IISS Regional Security Summit, the Manama Dialogue 2012 titled Priorities for Regional Security, Dr Khalid Bin Mohammad Al Attiyah the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Qatar highlighted the importance of resolving the principal conflict of Israel-Palestine to create a sustainable peace in the region.
“I visited three cities in Turkey and in the last we went to Antalya with our colleagues from Saudi Arabia, UAE, with the help of our brothers from Turkey and with our friends from the USA, France and Britain, to bring the military and rebels together. Thanks to God we managed to form a high military council for Syria, so this is the good news that we have from last night in Turkey.
“Palestine is our main issue. I believe, if we can solve the Palestine issue in the Middle East – this is what we believe in the GCC countries and in Qatar in particular – then we can solve all our problems in the region. The Israelis, in my opinion, are not reading the political landscape surrounding them. These days, this is the main problem. This reflects very much on Syria. I will keep my point on Syria, because this is the current issue. Perhaps we can answer some questions later, if there are any, on anything outside Syria.
“When we met in our core group last year in London there were 11 countries. In the GCC, we predicated immediately what the core group was looking for was a platform to move quickly to save the Syrian people. We came back here and met as the GCC. We tried to do what we thought was needed for everyone to reach out to the people of Syria and help them. We did so and we did this with very little time. With a mandate from the GCC, we managed, with our brothers from Saudi Arabia and UAE, to bring everybody together in Qatar and formed a coalition between the SNC at that time and the other opposition, who were inside Syria and had not joined the SNC. We managed to do this in Qatar. We then had to take the other step, which was to bring the military arm, i.e. the military personnel who had defected, and the rebels, together in order to form an arm of the coalition front at that time. We had to stay in Turkey for 10 days, moving from city to city until we brought them all together. Now, they have formed an authority, which consists of 267 members. They then founded a council, which consists of their leaders, which has about 30 members. I am speaking practically, just to make the picture clear to everyone here. Then they chose their chief of staff, their assistant chief of staff, their deputy chief of staff and they chose the commanders for the regions they will be working on.
“All of this is preparing for Marrakech. We did everything our core group was looking to be done. What we are looking for as an outcome from Marrakech is this: we need all groups of the Friends of the Syrian People, the 108 members, to recognise the coalition. We need all of the members to found a fund to help the Syrian people for not only humanitarian aid but to look forward to rebuild what has been damaged in Syria. The damage in Syria has been devastating. We want them to allow the Syria people to defend themselves with the means to stop airplanes. They cannot fly or stop airplanes and heavy artillery. These people are being shelled heavily by both airplanes and guns. We are hearing, too, now that chemical weapons are being prepared. God knows what will happen in Syria if chemical weapons are used.
“Ladies and gentlemen, there two things which we want to avoid happening in Syria. There are two groups. One would like to see Syria in total chaos; the other would like to see it in controlled chaos. Maybe this is a new term, but controlled chaos is stalemate. Those who fly – air force people – know what stalemate is, when they go into combat. This is controlled chaos that someone would like to see. This will only lead to more killing on both sides. It will be gridlock; no side will advance; there will only be further loss of life. We do not want to see this happen. We also do not want to see the total chaos from others side who would like to use Syria as a bridge for [inaudible]. I can assure you that what we saw in Antalya is that these people are determined not to drag their country into total chaos.
“I do not want to take up much of your time, but John, you mentioned fast power. Fast power will only become if we fly in formation. Flying solo will not take us anywhere. Thank you, John. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.”
Questions posed to Qatari FM
Dr John Chipman
Thank you very much indeed. Before we open up to questions, I just wanted to immediately ask Dr Khalid a question. You talked about flying in formation, i.e. a coordinated approach to the problem in Syria. Near the end of your remarks you said that it was important to give the opposition revolutionary forces the means of self‑defence. It sounded to me that you were also suggesting that to do that a no‑fly zone might have to be established. Yesterday, we had different views from people speaking to us on Syria about whether one could move or whether it was right to move to a no‑fly zone. Does Qatar have a position on the no‑fly zone issue?
Dr Khalid Bin Mohammad Al Attiyah
At this stage, after 20 months, I think the people of Syria do not want us to provide them with a no‑fly zone. They want us to provide them with the means for them to impose their own no‑fly zone, I can assure you. They are now ready and prepared to impose their own no‑fly zone. The lack of means is what is holding them back.