DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – Moscow tries to hold a Syrian refugees Conference in Damascus in the 11th and 12th of September.
Seeking primarily to convince the European parties, that the security situation in Syria has become conducive to the return of refugees, provided that sufficient funds should be available for reconstruction.
Syrian journalists living abroad believe that the conditions of a successful International Syrian Refugees Conference, which Russia intends to hold in Damascus, are not available.
The majority of those journalists agreed on whoever sees the conference as a propaganda attempt and attracting reconstruction funds.
The demise of Assad regime
Adnan Abdulrazak, a Syrian journalist living in Turkey, said that the possibility of returning or not depends on the age of the person who emigrated or was forced to emigrate, as well as his place of residence and work and the opportunities he /she has.
“Most of those who left Syria due to force majeure; or to escape death or arrest, have seen in the asylum countries the vast difference in rights, services and human treatment,” Abdulrazak said.
“How can the refugees return and forget the killing, the displacement, the woes they suffered, and the prices they paid?” Abdulrazak wondered.
Abdulrazak considered that the condition of most of the displaced and immigrants is the demise of the regime, because they do not trust any guarantees, decrees and decisions issued by the Syrian government.
He believed that it is possible to return those over the age of fifty, along with a few who are considering returning if there are real safeguards.
However, he said “most of the young people would not return, which means a painful drain on the energies and competency of Syrian youth and their lose, perhaps forever.”
Continuous circumstances to migrate
While others made fun of the conference saying that they should hold an international conference to facilitate the exit of the remaining Syrians.
Ibrahim Hamidi, a Syrian journalist living in London, told North Press that the idea of the conference is purely Russian, as Damascus did not encourage holding it at the beginning.
He added that the real conditions for the success of the conference are not available, and many people in Syria still want to leave, and there was western pressure on the neighboring countries, UN and Europe not to participate in the conference before creating the conditions for return.
The US deputy representative to the United Nations, Richard Mills, had said that discussing the return of refugees was completely premature, and urged countries to boycott the conference, adding that it would not be organized in coordination with the UN and the countries hosting the largest numbers of refugees.
Moscow and Damascus will accuse the western countries to prevent humanitarian initiatives, because they both want to benefit from the conference to pressure the UN to transfer aid money to Damascus, according to Hamidi.
He believes that if they succeed, they will achieve their goal. But if the conference is boycotted, they will accuse western countries of double standards.
But Rana Haj Ibrahim, a Syrian journalist living in France, hopes to return if there are real guarantees from the government.
“Certainly, I am thinking of returning, if there are no risks of accountability or imprisonment, then in Syria my family, my memories, and I do not want to start from scratch again,” she told North Press.
The number of Syrian refugees in the world is estimated at ten million, including six million in neighboring countries alone, while about 1.5 million refugees are distributed in Europe.
Looting Syrians
Mustafa Sayed, a Syrian journalist living in Germany, said “Ending the conflict and building national peace requires the will to build peace and faith in national partnership.”
He believes that those calling for the conference have not yet realized the necessity of building national peace, and feel that they can continue looting the Syrians.
Sayed cited South Africa’s experience in building peace and getting out of war, by restoring the decision to the people through free elections that were subjected to international monitoring.
As well as, Rwanda’s experience in economic growth after the civil war.
“Syria is capable of building peace if there is a real will to change, abandon the system of corruption, and abandon the logic of force and ally with the occupations against the people,” Sayed said.