Mr. Ahmet Davutoğlu, Minister Foreign Affairs of Turkey participated in the Friends of Syrian People “Core Group” meeting held on 28 February 2013 in Rome. Foreign Ministers of France, Egypt, Germany, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States also attended the meeting hosted by Mr. Giulio Terzi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy. The second session of the meeting was held with the participation of the delegation of The National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces headed by Mr. Muaz Al Khatib.

In a meeting with press following the Core Group meeting Foreign Minister Davutoğlu said that he informed of his counterparts about the living conditions of Syrians in the camps especially during the winter, and expressed the deep disappointment of the Syrian opposition that the decisions taken at the meeting of Friends of Syrian People in Marrakesh were not implemented.

Pointed out that Foreign Ministers agreed on three major issues at the Core Group meeting Foreign Minister Davutoğlu said ”All countries have a common perspective that the humanitarian tragedy in Syria must end. Secondly, there is a risk that the Syrian crisis could spread to the whole region. There is general understanding of the elimination of this risk. Thirdly, we all have to display a clear and firm stance against extremist trends and the control of chemical weapons”.