Syria welcomed the announcement of the 22 January date for the Geneva II conference, set by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, an official source at Foreign and Expatriates Ministry said on Wednesday.
The source repeated Syria's agreement that it will participate in the conference with an official delegation representing the state, under direction of President Bashar Assad.
The delegation, the source added, will carry with them the demands of the Syrian people, first and foremost, the elimination of terrorism.
"The era of colonialism has gone forever," the Foreign Ministry said, in response to statements by the French and British foreign ministers and their Arab tools that Assad should have no part to play in the transitional stage.
It reminded them that there is no return to the period of appointing and discharging governments.
"Therefore, what they need is to wake up from their dreams; otherwise if they insist on these delusions, there is no need for them to attend Geneva II," said the Foreign Ministry source.
"Our people won't allow anybody to steal their exclusive right to determining their own future and leadership," the source added, noting that the core aim of the Geneva conference is "to meet the demands of the Syrian people alone and not the interests of those who have shed the blood of this people".
The source asserted that the official Syrian delegation will be going to Geneva "not to hand over authority to anybody, but to take part in making Syria's future along with those who are keen to preserve the Syrian people's interest and support a political solution.”
"As for the colonialist West's hirelings and those who were made up by the intelligence of those countries, they don't deserve any comment neither on their actions nor on their words," the Foreign Ministry source said.
It said that the Syrian people, thanks to their awareness, have rejected those which have encouraged U.S. military intervention in Syria and have shed Syrian blood.
Translated and edited by the Syrian Observer
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