The statement of the Syrian Communist Party (Unified) on the urgency to stop violence immediately and to start comprehensive national dialogue

O, the masses of our people!

The bloody events that have taken place in some governorates of Syria for more than a month, especially in the last several days of this month, are heartbreaking, an injury to our soul and a cause of great concern.  The events have already left dozens of citizens, soldiers, and members of security forces dead and wounded, in armed confrontations which could have been avoided and need not be repeated if the security solution is replaced by the logic of politics.

The martyrs who were killed in various areas of Daraa and outskirts of Damascus, Homs, Baniyas, and others are all martyrs who belong to this nation, to the people of our dear homeland Syria, and we hold dear all of the fallen of our own nation.  This sad tragedy highlights the urgent need to avoid entering a tunnel of pain and blood, to choose a political solution based on dialogue, to reject violence and counter-violence that only leads to more and more bloodshed, to respect the laws rather than sabotage public and private properties.

The ongoing tragedy only benefits the enemies of Syria, the enemies of our national project that is guiding the country, the enemies who are promoting the American and Zionist project in the region, as well as the forces who do not want the process of reform to deepen and expand.

Our party, which keenly feels the responsibility for our country, believing that Syria belongs to all its citizens and that every drop of blood of its sons and daughters is precious, calls for a national dialogue to marginalize the advocates of sedition and division, based on broad and direct participation of all, of not only the parties of the Progressive National Front but also other national forces outside the front, a dialogue that includes representatives of economic enterprises, civil society organizations, cultural and intellectual associations, labor unions and professional associations, religious leaders and other figures of national stature, all who cherish Syria and its national unity, in order to achieve the following objectives:

• End all bloodshed in Syria immediately.
• Stop violence and counter-violence in any form.
• Identify and hold accountable all who are responsible for the actions that have harmed the country.
• Adopt peaceful political solutions to all problems facing the country.
• Implement democratic reforms, the decrees already issued by the President of the Republic, in practice.
• Complete the promulgation of other planned laws and decrees, such as those that concern political parties, media, and so on.
• Stop arbitrary arrests, and release all innocent individuals detained as a result of the aforementioned events, as well as all prisoners of conscience.

Syria, our homeland, is above all as well as for all, and we must make utmost efforts to overcome any other consideration in order to preserve this country and the lives and liberties of its sons and daughters.

Syrian Communist Party (Unified)
Damascus, 25 April 2011