The joint special representative of the United Nations and the Arab League (AL) to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi (L) and Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi attend a joint press conference in Tehran, Iran, on Oct. 14, 2012. Both of them called here on Sunday for resolving the Syrian issue in a peaceful way. (Xinhua/Ahmad Halabisaz)
TEHRAN, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi and the UN-Arab League (AL) joint special envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi called here on Sunday for resolving the Syrian issue in a peaceful way.
Talking at a joint press conference with Brahimi, Salehi said Iran is optimistic that the envoy's experience in resolving the world issues and the assistance of regional states and other influential countries could help find a peaceful resolution to Syrian issue.
Iran emphasizes that the Syrian people should enjoy freedom of elections and the establishment of a parliament and a constitution based on the vote of people, said the foreign minister.
The Syrian government has repeatedly announced its readiness to respond to his people's demands, he said.
"Mr. Brahimi and we share the point that, prior to any measure (to be implemented in Syria), violence and killings should be stopped," Salehi said, adding that "We should, hand-in-hand, help stop the confrontations and bloodshed" in the Arab state.
Iran is fully prepared to cooperate with Brahimi to settle the issue in Syria, he added.
For his part, Brahimi said the UN and the AL are cognizant about the importance and sensitivity of the Syrian crisis and emphasize an urgent solution to the current situation in the country.
The UN calls for stopping the violence in Syria and asks the opposition groups to respond positively to this initiative, Brahimi said.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon also calls for stopping the flow of arms to all the parties involved in the Syrian conflict and wants all the countries, which enjoy good relations with the sides, to help stop bloodshed in the crisis-ridden country, said Brahimi.
Brahimi, who arrived in the Iranian capital of Tehran Sunday, will hold talks with other Iranian high-ranking officials, including Saeed Jalili, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, on Syria.
He has visited Saudi Arabia and Turkey recently and is expected to talk with Iraqi officials on Syria in Baghdad on Monday.
Last month, Salehi expressed Tehran's readiness to assist Brahimi in his mission to restore peace in Syria.
DAMASCUS, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- A Syrian state-run newspaper said Sunday that Turkey's grounding of a Syrian civilian plane last week was a "stupid and reckless" action.
"Regardless of their intents, what the Turkish authorities have recently done regarding the Syrian civilian plane has no other synonym in the international political dictionary but a stupid and reckless action," Tishreen daily, a mouthpiece of the Syrian government, editorialized Sunday. Full story
DAMASCUS, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Blasts and clashes continued in several Syrian hotspots on Saturday, as the tension between Syria and Turkey keeps gaining momentum.
At least nine people were killed Saturday when a car bomb blasted at a suburb of the capital Damascus, activists said, adding that a child and two women were among the killed. The blast that rocked al-Nabek also left 13 people injured. Full story
STANBUL, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said here Saturday that Ankara will do what is necessary if Syria again violates its border.
"We will do what needs to be done if our border is violated again," he told reporters while he had a bilateral meeting with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on the Syrian crisis in Istanbul's Hilton Hotel. Full story
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