Kerry Urges Syria Opposition to Join Peace Talks

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry appealed Thursday to the divided Syrian opposition to join next week's peace talks, and vowed they could veto any names for an interim leadership.

"On the eve of the Syrian opposition coalition general assembly meeting tomorrow to decide whether to participate in Geneva in the peace conference, the United States ... urges a positive vote," Kerry said in a surprise statement to reporters.

"The Syrian people need to be able to determine the future of their country, their voice must be heard," he said, ahead of the peace conference in Switzerland which opens on January 22.

"The Geneva peace conference is not the end, but rather the beginning. The launch of a process that is the best opportunity for the opposition to achieve the goals of the Syrian people and the revolution."

The aim of the U.N.-led talks is to find a way to install a transitional government to help end the war, in which 130,000 people have died since March 2011.

Kerry said the Syrian opposition had the power to veto names for the transitional governing body, as does the regime of President Bashar Assad.

"Any names put forward for leadership of Syria's transition... those names must be agreed to by both the opposition and the regime. That is the very definition of mutual consent.

"This means that any figure that is deemed unacceptable by either side, whether President Assad or a member of the opposition cannot be a part of the future," Kerry added.