Haidar: National Reconciliation the Syrians’ Option to Get out of Crisis

DAMASCUS, (ST)-The all-out national reconciliation is the Syrians’ fate and their option to get out of the ongoing crisis, Ali Haidar, Minister of State for National Reconciliation Affairs has stressed.

In a recent interview with the website of the Syrian News Agency (SANA), Haidar said “national reconciliation is the Syrian leadership’s vision to attain political settlement in the country.”

The minster referred to successful reconciliation cases in different Syrian areas where the state regained control and the authorities settled the legal status of gunmen who turned themselves in and where the files of the kidnapped and missing persons were treated.

“The success of reconciliation in some areas depends on certain elements like the situation of the terrorists in these areas, the presence of foreign terrorists, the destruction caused to the areas following the terrorists’ defeat, the ability of the people displaced from these areas to return and start a new life in addition to the state’s capability to restore the infrastructure,” Haidar clarified.

He stressed that reconciliation is underway in Al-Husseineya town of Damascus countryside where the government has almost completed the restoration of the infrastructure in preparation for the locals’ return to the town. He also stressed that the ministry is pressing ahead with efforts aiming to attain national reconciliation in Darayya and Douma towns in Damascus Countryside, al-Wa’er area in Homs.

Haidar pointed out that the ministry manages the work in the project of national reconciliation while the Syrian government is the executive party, stressing that every Syrian has the right to work in this project and contribute to its success, because the reconciliation process needs unifying all the efforts of the government and the civil society.

Regarding the file of the kidnapped and missing people, Haidar asserted that in such cases, “the ministry is dealing with parties who have nothing to do with humanitarian values or morals and this is a big problem.”

He urged families of the kidnapped to adopt the ministry and its branches in all Syrian provinces as the only reference for information in order to avoid blackmail attempts by alleged mediators.

“Sometimes, the ministry succeeds in making deals leading to the release of some kidnapped people in certain areas and this achievement is done in parallel with the Syrian authorities’ release of some detained gunmen, who repented and pledged not carry arms against the state,” Haidar said.

Hamda Mustafa