President of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC), Nasr Al-Hariri, participated in a two-day online symposium organized by the Ankara-based Center for Middle Eastern Studies (ORSAM) under the title ‘The Syrian revolution in its tenth Year.’
Keynote speakers included Co-chair of the Constitutional Committee, Hadi Al-Bahra, Head of the Astana delegation, Ahmed Tomeh, Syrian and Turkish academics, researchers and journalists.
Al-Hariri said that the Syrian revolution freed the Syrian people as millions “finally learned to speak without restraint after having lived decades in absolute silence.” He said that ten years after the first protesters broke the chains of silence, Syrians will never go back and will continue to move forward towards freedom and democracy.
Al-Hariri pointed out that Bashar al-Assad is detached from as he “still thinks he lives in that old world of silence. He plans on holding elections this year. He added: “Syrians can now loudly laugh at the entire fake process and the whole world can hear them. These elections without democracy are no substitute for a democratic transition in Syria.”
“Sanctions against the Syrian regime must continue, until there is a government that actually represents Syrians. A government that would use all the resources available to provide services for Syrians and decrease the suffering. Not a government that have used chlorine to build chemical weapons instead of cleaning hospitals, and used fuel to war on Syrian towns and villages instead of providing heating to those freezing in makeshift tents.”
Moreover, Al-Hariri said that “a government like the Assad government could never be trusted to provide for the Syrians it holds hostage and it will use every resource available to wage more war and kill and displace more Syrians. And we cannot send Syrians back to live under such government.”
“The road to UNSC resolution 2254 will be long, but it is possible with enough pressure on Assad and his friends. Just as Assad has had his patrons in Russia, Iran, China, and Lebanon to temporarily keep him afloat, it is important that the friends of the Syrian people continue their support to the Syrian people,” he added.
He also said that he “looks forward to working with you all to continue the journey to actualize freedom and democracy in Syria that began ten years ago. I look forward to strengthening our friendship, continuing the policies we have already implemented, and continuing to go down new paths to implement new policies to achieve a real political transition without Bashar al-Assad.” (Source: SOC’s Media Department)
