New York Foreign Press Center briefing with James Jeffrey, Special Representative for Syria Engagement and the Special Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIL.
Transcript
Welcome everyone, to the New York Foreign Press Center, we’re happy to have you here. I’m just gonna briefly introduce Ambassador Jeffrey, who will speak about, read out from his engagements here at the U.N. and then we forward on to Syria.
[Ambassador Jeffrey] Thank you very much. I thank you for coming today and hello, ah, we have people from Washington on too?
[Woman] We do, yes sir.
Okay, all right, ah First of all, let me give you a summary of what we’re trying to do here this week on my two areas, which are very closely aligned. The defeat ISIS, with a particular focus on the coalition activities in Syria and Iraq, and, our overall policy towards Syria. With several basic themes here this week, ah, the political process for a resolution of the Syrian ah, crisis, going on since 2011; accountability, by those including the Syrian government and ISIS, ah, that have slaughtered, inhumanely, tens of thousands of people. Ah, Work with Turkey on ah, ah, safe zone mechanism that meets Turkish and local security concerns and allows the fight against ISIS to continue on. And on all of these areas, we believe that we had considerable success. Ah, most importantly, on the political process. Ah, we saw the, (clears his throat) ah, Secretary General announce on Monday, that the constitutional committee is ready to be formed and we expect it to be formed in the near future. I believe there will be a security counsel, ah meeting on this on Monday that give THAT “GARY PATUS” and the special envoy will address. I will learn more then about the details, of the launch of this. This is a huge potential, I underline potential, shift, in the outcome of the Syrian conflict. Our view all along has been, that, ah, the Syrian government under Hafez al-Assad or Bashar al-Assad rather, ah, is looking for a military victory. While the rest of the world has signed up in Resolution 2254, for a political resolution with this Constitutional committee, then, free in fear elections run by the U.N. and various other steps on cease-fire collective actions against the terrorist threat that still exists in Syria and such. Ah, our first point, and we’ve made this clear in all of our conversations is, a military victory for Assad, in this, ah or anybody else in this conflict, and a political settlement are mutually exclusive. You have to decide. And the time now is to decide. Not only for Assad, but for those who support him. This is a message we’ve been passing on to the Russians with whom we are dealing very closely on all of this. So, on accountability, ah, I met with Caesar, the famous ah, Syrian, that’s his nom de guerre, ah, Official, who smuggled out the 55,000, ah, photos and we’re working our way ah, through the U.S. Congress, a Caesar Bill, to impose even tougher sanctions on those who ah, are abusing fellow Syrians. We had several meetings, on ah, the role, ah, the treatment of women in ah, Assad Syria, on ah, ISIS’s ah activities in Iraq and in Syria, ah and in the overall human rights condition, ah that we are faced with there, and finally, ah the Secretaries ah, press conference yesterday, where he made public our finding, which we just concluded, that the regime had used chlorine gas in an attack in Latakia Province on the 19th of May. With Turkey, we are continuing our coordination on the safe zone and next steps. We’re pleased with the progress. The Turks would like to see us move quicker, but, we are also coordinating with local officials, it’s a very delicate operation, but we think the military on both sides are doing well. I’ll stop there and take your questions.
[Female Moderator] Okay so for Q&A, please state your name and organization before you ask your question. I will moderate that. We’ll start up at the front.
[Journalist 1] Hivana, with Sky News Arabia, Ambassador you said, that there was a use of a chlorine, and President drew a red line before if there was a use of a chemical attacks, what are the options now?
Well, ah, at the same time as the Secretary announced that, he said several things. First of all, he announced that we had just imposed new sanctions on a Russian company that was delivering aviation fuel for the use of Russian, and we believe, Syrian aircraft that were carrying out ah, these inhuman barrel bombings and other attacks on population in Idlib and elsewhere, ah, so that’s the first thing, we’re also giving additional ah, funding, ah to the OPCW for, on it’s investigatory arm, to look into accountability for these things. He also said the UNITED STATES is doing everything it can, reasonably, ah, to insure that this never happens again. The decision to take military action in any circumstance, has to be measured by things, first of all: Is it reasonable under the circumstances? How many casualties? When did it happen? How long did it take us to ascertain it? Ah, these are all ah, questions that come up under the general category of proportionality. Ah, we believe that, first of all, our position, ah, that a military response to use of chemical weapons is on the table, remains firm. It remains firm with the French who have affirmed it to us, it remains firm with the British who sent out a statement ah, generally supporting us this morning, on the chemical weapons action, and we think the regime and supporters understand this.
[Moderator] Over here sir.
[Journalist 2] (states name) .. Hurriyet Turkish Daily Well ah, yesterday President Erdogan said ah, you know, he had given you two weeks, ah, come up with a plan for the safe-zone. Now he says he doesn’t trust U.S. anymore he doesn’t think that U.S. will cooperate for the safe-zone. He also gave away some booklets yesterday about the safe-zone to any 6 billion dollar budget and one million people settlement. Ah, what do you think about the settlements and what do you think about Erdogan’s reaction?
We, I saw ah, an individual who had that book. We haven’t been provided that yet that the Turkish government has talked with us about and in fact the safe-zone mechanism arrangements include ah, the return of refugees in a safe, voluntary and dignitary fashion if they’ve come from the northeast so we’re working with the Turkish government on that as we’re working with ah, the Turkish government and the Turkish military on all aspects of the safe-zone, we think it is going quite well.
[Moderator] Okay, Washington we are gonna to go to you Please state your name and organization.
[Journalist 3] Yes, (states name) Kurdistan 24, Thank you for your time Syria Ambassador. Ah, one of the fears of the Kurds in Syria is very well known, regarding the safe-zone during the return of the refugees, ah kind of demographic change for the Kurdish villages and places, ah this is the Part I. And the Part II of it, is, still there is a fear of military action from the Turkish side. So ah, technically, what are the guarantees for these two points?
The Kurds of Syria, who are you talking about? Ah, your friend, or ah, somebody you meet on the street? Who, who are you referring to?
[Journalist 2] Ah, Mr. Ambassador, there are, you know, there are too many Kurdish political parties. I mean, its just the YPG and the PYD, eh just ah, they are still appraising these questions.
[Ambassador] Of course
[Journalist 2] and also the public, the public has media. We know the that the public are really talking about this.
Of course sir, obviously it’s a subject, but I would point out, that ah, I haven’t counted them all, but Massoud Bizani, someone I’ve known for many years and trust, who happens to be Kurdish, has told me that there are 300,000 Kurdish, ah Syrian refugees from northeast Syria, inside of ah northern Iraq and the Turkish authorities believe that there are several hundred thousand, ah, Syrian refugees from northeast Syria inside, ah, Turkey. I think those people want to go back, don’t you?
[Journalist 2] Definitely, that’s true Mr. Ambassador.
[Journalist 3] Ah Ambassador, Arthur MacMillan, The National. Ahm, the question, it’s about Syria, ah, in terms of military action, you used the words, “It’s time for the Assad regime to decide..” you know, whether it’s a political solution, or a, military solution as he sees it. Have you spoken, while you were here, did you speak to the Russians about those options, and whether they should be talking to the Assad regime about it? Because he doesn’t, I mean obviously, Secretary Pompeo statement yesterday was very significant, but, Assad still seems to be quite slow in coming to the table when it comes to politics?
Yeah I’m, try to be careful on specific diplomatic contacts, in certain locations and times, with individuals in countries, ah but, you can operate on the assumption, certainly in my case, and I would say, generally with American are the diplomats, that we wouldn’t be presenting these things to you, had we not been sharing them with the relevant parties. My comments to ah, our colleague from Hurriyet on the safe-zone, my comments to you ah on ah, the issue of Assad `and his choice, my comments to our ah friend, on ah, what we have, ah said and ah with various Kurdish groups and such, we ah, we try to do that, so we don’t make news among our interlocutor’s through the media, but rather inform you of, generally, ah, where we are in a way that should not surprise them. How’s that for a little tradecraft of what we do? We have tradecraft, it’s not as good as journalist tradecraft of course, it’s very amateurish and primitive, but we try.
[Arthur] But what would you say to the Russian side in the sense ah, that they’re obviously cooperating with the Assad regime in Idlib, ah, Russian planes are taking off and bombing parts of Idlib, you know well proven, data has been presented to the United Nations on that fact.
[Ambassador] Mmm hmm.
[Arthur] They’ll be a press conference today, from Sergey Lavrov at three o’clock where I’m quite sure he will counter, some of the things we have heard in the last 24 hours. I just, guess I’m wondering what’s your message of what you think Russia should be thinking at this point?
[Ambassador] Ah, if you make it to the press conference ah, and he talks about taking the political path forward, ask him why the Russian, I forget what it is, which Russian whose agency announced that the Russians are planning on expanding their what is it, (mispronouncing) Hmeimim Air Base? Could you, yah just give that out. We have somebody, you know about that press report. Ah, so, what did I say earlier? That ah, pursuing a military victory and ah the political process are mutually incompatible are mutually exclusive. I will stand with that and I will stand with the fact that people know about it And ah, our willingness to cooperate in a compromised solution, cause’ that takes us too. 40% of Syria is not in the hands of the Assad regime. Hafir’s population has fled his control to other areas. The country is a geo strategic disaster; it threatens its neighbors through the residence of Iranians with long-range systems; it has no economy to speak of, look at it’s currency it’s at the worst level ever, ah, pegged against the dollar and euro. And ah, there’s no reconstruction money flowing in and there isn’t gonna be any reconstruction money flowing in until that country decides to make, (clears throat) a, ah, decision for a compromise political settlement. We are not going to force it to do that militarily, but I will note that we and others, are still pursuing in Syria, military actions, not against the Assad regime, but against things that have happened because of the Assad regime’s inability to control it’s own territory and to deal with the uprisings of the people. The Iranians running around with long-range missile systems, from the Turkish standpoint, various terrorist threats they face, and our coalition going after ISIS. Those are all outcomes of the Syrian ah civil war if you will, a Syrian conflict, and they present a reality on the ground. None of that is particularly positive to Assad. If he wants to sit on top of a pile of rubble in a graveyard, there is probably nothing we can do about it, but if he wants to have anything like a normal country and if his partners want him to have anything like a normal country, they have to go down the political process path. The constitutional committee convening is the first step. And we will, we evaluate that very positively, but we have to see further steps before we know that it is not just a tactical move, but rather a strategic decision. Tactical move versus strategic decision, the juries all out. Ask him today at three.
[Journalist 4] Hi, (states name) with RIA Novosti Agency, ah, what will be-
Oh you can ask, you can ask him in Russian
[Journalist 6] Probably
I’ll give you a list, okay of things to ask,.. (some people laugh)
[Journalist 6] Why not, ah, my question is, what role will the U.S. be playing in this constitutional committee? Will you provide them technical support? Maybe any assistance, will you will you vouch for any particular results except for the stated goal that Syria should be unified in its current borders as you said yesterday?
You summed up the American position probably more accurately than I would have. Ah, the ah, relevant Resolution 2254 says that this process in the end has to be by and with Syrians, and we fully believe in that. We will provide whatever support to the United Nations which has the mission of facilitating that specifically by special envoy Geir Pederson, in any way that the U.N. asks us, and we assume other security counsel states and the rest of the U.N. will do so as well.
[Moderator] Okay, we’ll go back to Washington for a question.
[Journalist 7] Hi, Kara from “‘ NTV, and I have two questions on the-
[Moderator] I’m sorry can you speak a little louder
Okay I’m sorry, I’ll start over. My name is Hikara from NTV, and I have two questions regarding the chlorine chemical weapons usage in Syria. Ah, so, you were talking about a military response the possibility of the military response, I was wondering if you have a timeline to, by when, you might decide whether or not to do a military or a non-military response, and my second questions is, the last time, ah, the Syrian, the Assad regime, used a chemical weapon, the U.S. did a military strike ah, I was wondering, because this time there was no casualties, that, if that fact is going to effect your decision, a lot, ah, your decision, yep.
Okay first of all, ah, we, I didn’t say, we’re, trying to decide whether we are going to do a military response. At the moment, we have taken the actions on this particular use of chemical weapons, ah, that we think as, to equate Secretary Pompeo, are reasonable. However, just so there is no confusion, just because this time we didn’t use a military option that military option remains very much on the table in response to a chemical weapons attack. Again, the circumstances will determine how we, not whether we will react, but how we will react. Ah, there were casualties, there were four people injured or suffering from the effects of chlorine in that attack but there were no fatalities.
[Moderator] Okay any other questions here in New York. Thank you, sir for your time, we will send the transcript once it becomes available.
Thank you, thank you all.