On Wednesday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad welcomed the participants of the International Conference on Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons that opened in Damascus, addressing them by video link.
"The problem of returning refugees to their homeland for Syria goes beyond the humanitarian issue, it is a national problem for us," he said, noting that more and more Syrians recently want to return to their homes.
"I thank my Russian friends for the great efforts they have made to convene this important conference in the face of Western attempts to disrupt the forum," al-Assad said. He denounced the desire of the European Union and the United States to politicize the refugee problem and to use it "as a card in political trade with Damascus".
"The illegal sanctions of the West and the US economic blockade prevent the Syrian government from creating suitable conditions for the return of refugees," the Syrian leader emphasized. Nevertheless, he said, hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been able to return to their homeland in recent years.
As al-Assad noted, the refugee problem arose as a result of the intimidation of the population by terrorist groups supported by the West and Turkey. "Syria has experienced more than one invasion and occupation throughout its long history, but its people have never left their homeland," al-Assad said. - "This is a conspiracy of external forces that created artificial conditions that forced the residents to leave Syria on a massive scale". Thus, according to the president, "there was a pretext to interfere in internal affairs in order to split the Syrian state - so that it would serve the interests of others, not its own people".
The conference opened in Damascus is attended by delegations from 27 countries, including Russia, China, Iran, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, the Sultanate of Oman and Pakistan, as well as representatives of the UN and 12 non-governmental organizations. The task of the forum is to work out a program of practical steps for the return of more than 6.5 million Syrian refugees to their homeland, most of whom are in neighboring countries.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Mikhail Klimentiev / TASS
Based on materials from TASS