Parliamentary delegates of ‘Friends of Syria’ countries meet in Tehran

Tehran, (SANA) The second meeting of the heads of National Security and Foreign Policy Commissions of the Parliaments of the states friends to Syria started Sunday in Tehran.

Speaker of Iranian Shura Council Ali Larijani said that achieving democracy in Syria cannot be fulfilled by force and through weapons, adding “some countries that do not enjoy democracy shed crocodile tears on the crisis in Syria.”

He pointed out that the presidential elections in Syria raise several important messages stressing that the Syrian government respects people’s will.

“The presidential elections in Syria is a call for other countries to stop sending terrorists to Syria and stop committing massacres in it,” Larijani said, hoping that the elections would be successful and a means for opening prospects of a solution.

The Speaker stressed that the meeting of states friends of Syria in Tehran constitutes a support for holding the presidential elections, and these elections come as an emphasis on the need for handling the crisis in Syria though a political and democratic solution.

Larijani pointed out that some states saw in the crisis in Syria a chance for the Zionist entity to breathes a sigh of relief, adding that the U.S. acknowledgment of supporting “militants” in Syria is a black spot in its history.

“The peaceful and democratic means is the only way for solving the crisis in Syria through elections, by which the Syrian people determine their future,” adding that the Syrian people by their standing in the face of all those who attempted to hinder the presidential elections and their insistence on holding them are stressing rejection of foreign dictations, terrorism and violence.

He noted that the presidential elections in Syria stresses that the Syrian people reject that terrorism and violence would have a foothold in their country.

Larijani clarified that the western and regional countries committed a strategic mistake through triggering sedition in the region and brining terrorists from all over the world because they will be badly affected by their terrorism once they turn back to their countries.

The Iranian senior official stressed that the Syrian people resisted all challenges coming from outside because they do not accept to have their future determined from behind closed doors, pointing out that the countries which argue that the elections are unfair refrained from sending observers because they realize that the Syrian people will not accept their project.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that interference in Syria through supporting the armed groups will spread the crisis into other areas.

Zarif added that terrorism will rebound to those who support and finance it in Syria, calling on the international community to immediately combat terrorism.

“The presidential elections in Syria is a significant and serious step on the road of solving the crisis.. and we hope Syria restores peace, security and stability in the near future,” The Iranian Minister said.

Zarif stressed that no solution to the crisis in Syria except through the ballot boxes, asserting that Iran called from the beginning for solving the crisis by peaceful means and devoted its efforts in this regard.

The Iranian Minister pointed out that the humanitarian and regional catastrophe in Syria is the result of the irresponsible interference and expansionist aspirations from the first months of the crisis in Syria.

“The advanced steps on the interior level in Syria for politically settling the situation through conducting reconciliations, particularly in Homs, are thanks to the interior efforts,” he said, asserting that those steps reflect good potentials for finding a solution to the problems in Syria through the Syrian-Syrian dialogue.

He asserted that any political solution needs countering terrorism and extremism, ending the interferences and stopping supplying weapons to the terrorists in Syria.

“The foreign threats to use force against Syria will not achieve and goal, and all should be aware that the force and violence would not solve the crisis in Syria,” Zarif said.

He dismissed any possibility of the military solution in Syria, asserting that the only option is the political one based on meeting the demands of the Syrian people through ballots boxes.

The Iranian Minister stressed that the conference is coincided with the events Syria is witnessing and the Syrian people preparations for the presidential elections based on the principles of democracy, noting that “it is a serious and significant step on the level of ending the crisis in Syria and meeting the demands of the Syrian people.

Zarif expressed his country’s readiness to participate in any true effort for solving the crisis in Syria and delivering humanitarian aid to the Syrian people.

The Iranian FM pointed out that Iran has sent, along the past three years, humanitarian aid to the Syrian people.

Representatives of more than 30 countries, which share Iran’s policy calling for stopping violence in Syria and realizing security and stability in it with the aim of help solving the crisis politically, are participating in the conference .

In a statement to SANA, Chairman of the Foreign Policy and National Security Committee at the Iranian Shura Council Alaeddin Boroujerdi said that the aim of the meeting is to boost peace and stability in Syria, pointing out that eight countries participated in the first meeting whereas the participants of the latter are thirty, which indicates that peace and stability advocates in Syria are increasing day after day.

He pointed out to the importance of holding the presidential elections in Syria, describing them as a democratic manifestation, as the U.S. and some countries’ rejection of the elections is a rejection of democracy because they do not believe in democracy bases, but rather they seek to achieve their interests in the region.

Deeb calls for respecting the peoples right to determine their future

Chairwoman of the Foreign Policy Committee at the People’s Assembly and head of the Syrian delegation to the Conference Dr. Fadia Deeb said “The peoples’ right to freedom, humanitarian justice and determining their future couldn’t be achieved through foreign dictations and agendas and sending waves of systematic terrorism into the safe and stable countries.”

Deeb called for respecting the international law, conventions and charters which preserve the sovereignty of the countries, respect their rights and territorial integrity and the will of their people through the ballot boxes.

Syria is poised for a victory whose signs are shaping on the horizon after it has stood fast over three years against a destructive war, Chairwoman of the Foreign Policy Committee at the People’s Assembly Dr. Fadia Deeb said.

Deeb emphasized, in her speech, the issue of fighting terrorism that must be a priority as it targets everyone indiscriminately and “has no country, religion or frontiers.”

She stressed the necessity of political solution as “the safest way for building modern democracies.”

“I would like to convey to you the voice of the Syrian people, who is waging its own war against Takfiri terrorism on behalf of the whole world,” Deeb said, warning of the menace of terrorism that is “metastasizing across borders like cancer”.

The Syrian people, Deeb says, are perfectly alive to the ones who are standing by them and sending shipments of medicine and food and, by contrast, the ones sending weapons and mercenaries to kill them.

Deeb affirmed that trading in the wounds and suffering of the Syrian people under numerous appellations and attempts to use bright slogans as excuses to infringe on the sovereignty of the Syrian state are now “out of question” for the Syrian people.

Syria is moving ahead in combating terrorism with sure steps as it is, in parallel, making national reconciliations in several areas, most recently the one that took place in Homs old city.

She affirmed that more reconciliations will come on the heels of previous successful ones.

Syria is set to hold presidential elections in a couple of days in a competitive atmosphere where there are three candidates on the campaign trail for the first times in its history, Deeb said.

“Those who want freedom and democracy can come to the ballot boxes,” she added.

Deeb hailed the high turnout of Syrian voters abroad who flooded their embassies around the globe, defying all attempts to take away their right to choose their president in countries which have long bragged about championing democracy.

Deeb expressed heart-felt thanks to the Islamic Republic of Iran for its support to the Syrian government and people, and for both Russia and China who have blocked attempts to politicize the humanitarian situation in Syria at the United Nations Security Council.

Dr. Deeb headed Syria’s delegation to the Conference in the presence of Syria’s Ambassador to Tehran Dr. Adnan Mahmoud.

Final statement calls for sending delegations to Syria to observe presidential vote

The final statement of the meeting called for sending delegations to Syria to observe a presidential vote set for June 3.

Syria’s sovereignty and independence should be respected as should be the right of the Syrian people to self-determination, added the statement, welcoming a slew of national reconciliations that Syria has witnessed.

The statement stressed in the meantime the necessity of invigorating the role of parliamentarians in solving regional and international crises.

As it slammed foreign-backed detrimental terrorism in Syria, the statement urged the countries providing logistical support to terrorists to reverse course, demanding that the countries neighboring Syria control borders to stem a cross-border infiltration of terrorists.