Faisal al-Mekdad: Assad regime has not arrested any Syrian returned to the country
Assad regime’s foreign minister, Faisal al-Mekdad, confirmed that Assad regime welcomes the return of Syrian refugees as he dropped the political and security provisions against them, and that Assad regime did not detain any Syrian who returned home.
Al-Mekdad’s statement came during an open dialogue with Egyptian journalists, thinkers and writers, which he conducted at the Assad regime’s embassy in Cairo. He said: “The Assad regime welcomes the return of Syrian refugees, and has not arrested any Syrian refugee who has returned to the country.”
Al-Mekdad claimed that there are no power that could prevent the Syrians from returning home. Assad regime issued decrees dropping the sentences on the Syrians in order to facilitate their return.
Al-Mekdad called on the Western countries to support the Assad regime regarding the return of Syrian refugees instead of imposing sanctions on it, referring to the agreement with the UNHCR to implement all the demands for the return of Syrian refugees.
Regarding the withdrawal of the Assad regime delegation from the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the headquarters of the Arab League during the speech of the Turkish Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, Al-Miqdad said that “there will be no dealings with the Turkish side until our demands are met.”
Al-Mekdad stressed that “if Turkey wants to normalize relations, it must withdraw from the Arab lands it occupied in northern Syria and western Iraq.”
In response to a question about the possibility of Egypt playing a role in the rapprochement between the Assad regime and Turkey, Faisal Al-Mekdad said: “The Assad regime is fully confident that Egypt will do everything is in our interest, as we have a 90% match on almost all issues.”
The United Nations and most Western countries confirm that Syria is still unsafe for the return of refugees, and stress that the return of refugees is linked to the political transition and achieving a safe and neutral environment.
On World Refugee Day last June 20, the Syrian National Coalition affirmed that “there is no suitable environment for the return of refugees, especially the causes of asylum still exist, but have become more diverse, deepened, and widespread, the most important of which is the Assad regime’s continued approach of oppression, killing, and arrest in various forms and methods as proven in the reports of relevant international and Syrian organizations.”
