ISTANBUL: Turkey has offered to host the second meeting of the Friends of Syria group, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a conference in Istanbul Saturday. Davutoglu gave no further information about the planned second meeting, details of which have yet to be agreed with other participants, but stressed that it would offer a good chance to build on the success of the first meeting held in Tunisia on Friday. “More than 70 countries attended the first meeting, now at least the Syrian people can see that the international community is trying to help,” he said. If we can implement some of the decisions taken (in the first meeting) it will be a start,” he said, adding that the planned Istanbul meeting will increase pressure on the Syrian government to halt the violence against its own people. “Turkey will not remain silent, we keep sending the message that the first thing we want to see is an end to the bloodshed,” he said. A second meeting in Turkey would likely be in Istanbul in March. At Friday's meeting, attendees urged an end to violence in Syria and called on a tightening of sanctions and restrictions on Syria, which is coming up on a year of unrest between the government and demonstrators demanding more democracy. The Turkish offer to host the next meeting was welcomed by the president of the United Nations General Assembly, H E Nassir Abdulaziz al-Nasser, who was also speaking at the Istanbul Conference on Mediation. “Turkey has taken and important role on its shoulders and is playing an important role in the mediation,” he said “Turkey has a very important role to ply in the Arab world,” he added Al-Nasser also welcomed the appointment of former UN secretary general Kofi Annan as joint special envoy on the Syrian crisis for the United Nations and the Arab League. “Mr Kofi Annan's well-known experience, credibility and wide network of relations brings to this important assignment a great potential for success,” he said. “We urge the Syrian authorities and all other parties involved in the Syrian crisis to cooperate fully with the newly appointed joint special envoy in order to achieve a quick resolution that ensures the restoration of peace, security and national unity to Syria,” he said. Author: David O'Byrne for dpa
