Syria

Ballots decide Syria future: Deputy FM

337063_Faisal-Meqdad

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Meqdad says ‘ballots’ by the Syrian people alone will determine the future of Syria.

“The ballots will decide Syria’s future,” Meqdad said during a speech at Damascus University on Wednesday.

The Syrian people will not allow anyone to meddle in their choices or mislead them, he added.

The Syrian official also welcomed a date for the Geneva conference aimed at ending the crisis in Syria.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on November 25 that the long-delayed meeting would be held on January 22, 2014.

The conference, which will be a follow-up to an earlier meeting held in June 2012, was proposed by Russia and the United States on May 7.

Meqdad said the main theme of the conference will be rooting out terrorism in Syria and preserving the unity of the Syrian land and people.

He also censured the countries that support terrorists in Syria.

Nearly three years of foreign-sponsored militancy in Syria has taken its toll on the lives of more than 100,000 people, according to statistics compiled by the United Nations. Millions have also been displaced due to the turmoil.

The UN has repeatedly warned against the humanitarian situation in the country, saying that over nine million people are in need of urgent aid due to the crisis. Over four million other Syrians will be forced out of their homes in 2014, the UN reported on October 7.

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