President of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC) Nasr al-Hariri, met with the European Union’s delegation for Syria to discuss the situation in Syria in light of the regional and international developments.
The meeting brought together SOC’s Vice-president Ruba Habboush, Coordinator of the Department of Foreign Relations Abdulahad Asteifou, Political Director of EEAS Carl Hallergard, EU’s Delegate to Syria Gilles Beltrand, and Head of the Political Section at the EU Delegation to Syria Anne Bourlond.
Al-Hariri thanked the European Union for its stance on the elections farce that the Assad regime held last month, calling for a more active role in Syria.
He talked about the need to put an end to the Assad regime’s procrastination regarding the work of the Constitutional Committee as no date has been yet set for the sixth session. Moreover, no tangible results or progress have been so far made in discussing the constitutional provisions.
Al-Hariri reaffirmed the SOC’s rejection of the presence of militias and terrorist organizations in eastern and western Syria, stressing the need to force all foreign fighters from Syria.
He also stressed that allowing humanitarian access is crucial for the lives of four million people in northwestern Syria, stressing the need to find an alternative solution by the international community to confront the Russian veto.
Asteifou also reiterated the importance of opening humanitarian crossings.
He also stressed the need for following up on the decision by the Greek Ministry of Migration to consider Turkey a third safe country for asylum seekers, stressing the importance of reconsidering the decision so as it does not negatively affect the Syrian asylum seekers.
Moreover, Asteifou called for following up on the situation of Syrian refugees in Denmark as he stressed the need to follow up on Brussels’ latest decisions on refugees on its territory. He called for the reversal of the Danish government’s decisions issued against hundreds of Syrian refugees and preventing their deportation.
For its part, the EU delegation stressed that the attack that targeted Afrin last week is a terrorist attack as it stressed the need to put an end to these attacks against civilians.
The EU delegation also stressed the importance of opening the humanitarian crossings, pointing out that the EU is seeking to cooperate with the concerned parties, including Turkey, the United Nations office in Ankara and Gaziantep in order to protect the humanitarian crossings from political influence as it is a purely humanitarian issue. (Source: SOC’s Media Department)