ISTANBUL
The U.S. Secretary of State has said peace could not be achieved in Syria until Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stepped down.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held a joint press conference after co-chairing the Ministerial Level Plenary of the Coordinating Committee meeting of the Global Counterrorism Forum (GCTF) in Istanbul on Thursday.
During the conference, Clinton said the United States viewed the forum as an excellent opportunity to pursue the common goal to make the world safe from terrorism.
Commenting on the situation in Syria, Clinton said the latest regime-sponsored violence in Hama was simply unconscioncable.
"Syria will not, cannot be peaceful, stable and certainly democratic until Assad goes," Clinton said.
"The time has come for the international community to unite around a plan for post-Assad Syria," she added.
Clinton noted that the Syrian government must implement all six points of the Annan initiative, Assad must transfer power and depart Syria, moreover, an interim representative government must be established through negotiation.
