LATTAKIA,(ST)_ “The Syrian people are ready to sacrifice and endure all forms of blockade and sanctions in defense of their homeland and against handing it over to the colonizers or mercenary terrorists who are wreaking havoc it, to undermine the economy and deprive the Syrian state of its resources,” said head of the Federation of Syrian Chambers of Industry and President of Aleppo Chamber of Industry Fares Shehabi .
During a meeting held at Tishreen University on Monday under the title “economic reality and the prospects for development, and the Turkish piracy of the Syrian economy” Shehabi said that the French occupiers brought with them during the Mandate period mercenaries and resorted during World War II to the confiscation of all agricultural crops and livestock in Syria to finance their soldiers in the region and Europe , nevertheless, the Syrian people resisted the colonizer ,defeated it and won independence.
“The Syrian people today resist to defeat the mercenary terrorists, who had various kinds of intimidation and carrots to attract owners of industrial establishments, particularly in the city of Aleppo but when they failed , they sabotaged and destroyed all the laboratories and facilities,” Shehabi added, indicating that before the crisis there were 113 thousand industrial facilities in Syria , 35,000 of which were in Aleppo, that ensured jobs for 2.5 million workers , were destroyed by terrorists.
He pointed to the economic agreements signed by Syria with other countries, especially Turkey, were not in the interest of Syria ‘s small and medium industries, and the Greater Arab Free Trade Area whose certificates of origin of goods that come to Syria, were falsified.
He called for the establishment of small and medium-sized industries and industrial zones in the safe areas and work in a spirit of participatory, pointing to the role of competencies that graduated from the Syrian universities and institutes to strengthen the country ‘s steadfastness.
He pointed to the importance of establishing a reconstruction fund and not to permit any state participated in the conspiracy and the war on Syria to contribute to the reconstruction, because Syria ‘s expatriates , energies and wealth are capable of rebuilding the country.
He stressed that any process of change in Syria must be led by President Bashar al-Assad because he is the only guarantor for Syria ‘s unity and independence.
On the Turkish government’s role in the destruction of the Syrian economy Shehabi pointed that mercenary terrorists stole 60 thousand tons of wheat and sold it cheaply in Turkey, homes and machines and transferred them to Turkey under the supervision of Turkish technicians in order to weaken the Syrian economy and industries that compete with Turkish ones.
He added that cases were filed, proven with documents and evidences, before the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court against the Turkish government , holding it accountable for all these crimes.
T. Fateh