Sousan: Restoring relations with Turkey requires its respect for Syria’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the withdrawal of its forces from the country

Astana (ST): Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Dr. Ayman Sousan, affirmed that there can be no normal relations between two countries, one of which occupies the lands of the other, pointing out that restoring relations between Syria and Turkey to normal requires Turkey’s commitment to the Astana understandings, especially respecting Syria’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, and acknowledging the need to withdraw its forces from Syrian territories according to a clear and specific timetable, and to start actually implementing this withdrawal.

In an interview with Russia Today channel on the sidelines of his participation in the 20th international meeting on Syria in the Astana format held in the Kazakh capital, Sousan said: The Astana meetings made important achievements in terms of reducing the area of terrorism in Syria, mainly in the three de-escalation zones, while in the fourth region, there would have been a share of success had it not been for the positions of one of the guarantors, (Turkey), which was and is still providing support and sponsorship to the terrorist groups present in the de-escalation zone in Idlib.

Sousan added: We hope that this meeting will proceed as the previous meetings have gone in order to reach the complete elimination of terrorism, and this is possible if the Turkish side adheres to the understandings it signed and respects the pledges that come at the forefront of the Astana statements, especially with regard to respecting the sovereignty of Syria and the unity and integrity of its lands, noting that the current round is gaining additional importance because it came after the quadripartite meetings of “Syria, Russia, Iran and Turkey,” whether at the diplomatic, military or security level, and we hope that these meetings will contribute to giving impetus to the Astana process to achieve all its goals, foremost of which is the consolidation and strengthening of stability in Syria.

With regard to Washington’s continued support for the terrorist organization (ISIS), Sousan stressed that the organization is an American industry and everyone knows that, and it moves and uses it at the time it wants to achieve its goals, pointing out that the Americans’ talk today about forming new terrorist organization aims to prolong the crisis in Syria, but the fate of this organization will disappear like its predecessors because the project basically fell.

Regarding the issue of refugees and their return, the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates affirmed that this issue is one of the most painful pages for Syria, because it lost many of its cadres and youth as a result of this war, so many measures were taken, including amnesty decrees and administrative measures to facilitate this return, but unfortunately there are countries that cry over refugees and continue to exploit the suffering of these refugees to serve their agendas. These countries bear the primary responsibility for this situation and also hinder the process of reconstruction necessary to achieve this return. As for Syria, every Syrian citizen is welcome whenever he wants, and he does not need an invitation to return to his homeland.

In response to a question about the return of relations between Syria and the Arab countries, and whether we might witness this kind of relations with Qatar, Sousan said: The nature of relations between any two countries is governed by circumstances and positions on certain issues, and changing positions constitutes an entry point for new relations with this or that country.  We hope that the clouds will disappear from the sky of any relations between any two Arab countries, including Qatar.

K.Q.