Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had a clear and unified message coming out of their
meeting in Washington, D.C. Monday: They are looking for a political solution
in Syria and won't consider putting international troops there unless the
Syrian regime agrees.
Clinton and Davotoglu spent the afternoon preparing
for the upcoming
inaugural meeting of the "Friends of Syria" group this weekend in Tunisia. Following the meeting, they both urged the
international community to support the Arab League's recommendations for Syria
following their Sunday meeting in Cairo, which included a request for a U.N.-Arab
peacekeeping force in Syria. But Clinton said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who the State
Department accuses
of murdering civilians, would have to agree first.
"We support the Arab League's
decisions coming out of the meeting in Cairo to try to end the violence and
move toward a transition. And we look forward to working closely with them in
the lead-up to the meeting in Tunisia. There are a lot of challenges to be
discussed as to how to put into effect all of their recommendations," Clinton
said. "And certainly, the peacekeeping request is one that will take agreement
and consensus. So we don't know that it is going to be possible to persuade Syria.
They've already, as of today, rejected that."
Clinton then explained the main
mission in Syria is to persuade the Assad regime to change course and give up
its hold on power voluntarily so that a process can begin to change the Syrian
system of government.
"Ultimately, it's going to be
important to convince the Assad regime that they are leading Syria into the
outcome that we all deplore. We do not want to see a civil war in Syria,"
Clinton said. "No one wants to see a civil war in Syria. So we have to
encourage the Assad regime, and those who support it, to understand that
there's either a path toward peacemaking and democratic transition - which is
what we are promoting - or there's a path that leads toward chaos and violence,
which we deplore."
The Cable
followed up and asked Clinton what U.S. assistance could be provided to help
protect the Syrian people just in case Assad doesn't have a change of heart and
allow foreign troops into Syria or give up his power voluntarily.
Clinton declined to answer that
question, but Davutoglu said there were a number of contingency plans that he and
the U.S. are working on, although he hoped they would never need to be put into
effect.
"Of course, as decision makers,
politicians, we have to think all the options and scenarios. Some scenarios
could be not opted for, but unfortunately in Syria today, there is such a situation
we are alarm[ed] and we are all worried about. But today, the agenda in our
consultations and also in Tunisian meeting will be a political solution,
diplomatic solution, and humanitarian access as early as possible," he said. "At
this moment, we are talking on diplomatic and humanitarian steps to be taken,
but for other scenarios we hope that those things will not be needed. But we
need to think about contingencies as well."
Clinton also revealed a bit about
her personal diplomatic strategy during the briefing. Davutoglu mentioned that
Clinton annually hosts a Trans-Atlantic dinner where she brings officials from
the EU, Turkey, and the United States together for a meal as part of her
support of Turkey's EU membership.
"It's my eating diplomacy," Clinton
said. "I figure, you eat together enough times, you work through all the
problems."
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