Foreign Ministry: EU Decision Allowing Oil Transactions with ‘Opposition’ Contradicts the Principle of Non-interference
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DAMASCUS, (SANA)- Foreign and Expatriates Ministry on Tuesday said the EU decision to allow importing Syrian oil and its derivatives and investing in Syrian oil industry through exclusive transactions with the so-called ‘opposition coalition’ violates the principle of non-interference in the countries’ affairs.
In two identical letters addressed to the UN Security Council President and the UN Secretary General, the Ministry dismissed as ‘an unprecedented step” the EU adoption of a decision on April 22 allowing member countries to conduct transactions in oil import, oil and gas industry equipment and technology export and investment in oil industry in Syria exclusively with the so-called ‘the opposition coalition’ under the pretext of “[helping the civilian population and the opposition”.
The Ministry slammed the EU which is involved in the continued political and economic campaign targeting the national economy and the daily life of the Syrian citizens.
It said the EU did not feel content with the package of unilateral economic sanctions it earlier imposed on Syria as it has now resorted to a new step that “contradicts in its international legal framework with the principle of non-interference approved by the UN Charter in article 2 and the principles of sovereignty and the peoples’ right to choose their political and economic systems without foreign interference.”
The letters added that the decision also goes against the UN General Assembly declaration in 1962 on “Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources” which stresses the full right of every country to its natural resources and the respect of the economic respect of countries.
The Ministry continued as saying that the EU decision is also incompatible with the General Assembly declaration in 1981on the Inadmissibility of Intervention and Interference in the Internal Affairs of States which provides for the inadmissibility of any direct or indict engagement in supporting insurgency activities inside other states under whatever pretext or taking measures that target the unity of other states or undermine and sabotage the regime in them.
It added that the EU decision also violates the General Assembly declaration in 1970 on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States.
The Ministry reiterated that the sanctions which the EU imposed on Syria since the beginning of the crisis are “illegal” and “illegitimate” resulted in nothing but increasing the suffering of the Syrian people who are already subject to the practices of the armed terrorist groups particularly in terms of vandalizing the main infrastructures and destroying the pillars of the national economy, of which the oil sector is an essential one.
“Neither the EU nor any other party has the right to take any measures that would affect the states’ sovereign rights over their national resources,” said the letters.
The Ministry lashed out at the EU countries for “having gone even beyond that to allow the possibility of investing these resources in favor of one group that claims to be an opposition and represent the Syrian people while it actually represents no one by its masters and their interests that are connected to foreign sides.”
The letters reiterated that the EU decision is “illegal” and “amounts to an act of aggression” according to the Definition of Aggression adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 3314 for 1974.
They added that the decision also constitutes “a participation in stealing resources that belong to the Syrian people, the only ones with authority over these resources represented by their standing legitimate government. ”
“Accordingly,” the letters added, ” Syria demands that the Security Council take necessary measures to prevent the implementation of this illegitimate decision that contradicts with the rules of international law and the UN Charter.”
The Ministry reiterated that the EU decision also violates the countries’ commitments to refrain from supporting terrorism as it aims to provide support for the armed terrorist groups that are linked to Jabhat al-Nusra, which is an offshoot of al-Qaeda.
It affirmed that “Syria will practice its natural right to take the necessary measures to maintain its sovereignty over its natural resources in the face of the attempts of piracy and looting.”
H. Said
Information Minister…Terrorist Groups became the US Arm in Region
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MOSCOW, (SANA)-Minister of Information Omran al-Zoubi said the armed terrorist groups became “an arm” for the US in the military and political field, adding “The US has attempted to overthrow Syria through the Iraqi or the Lebanese gate, or through direct tools like Israel.
“The US successive administrations recognize that Syria is not a playground for their policies,” the Minister said during a meeting with leadership and activities of the Syrian-Russian Friendship Association in Moscow on Monday.
He added that the Arab League decision regarding Syria contradicts its convention, affirming that any decision at the UN will not be legal, even if Syria’s membership at the international Organization will be suspended, they will not be able to abolish the recognition of it.
“The real partner to Syria in all developments will be Russia, this opinion is not mine.. it is the opinion of the Syrian people and leadership,” the Minister said. Al-Zoubi added that the goal of conflict in the world has never changed.. all historic events stress that there is a conflict among the interests of superpowers, but besides this conflict there is another between good and bad.
For his part, the Syrian Ambassador in Moscow Riad Haddad talked about the political and diplomatic war against Syria and about Qatar’s destructive role aiming at killing the Syrian citizens.
He said that they gave Syria seat at the Arab League to the so-called opposition and they want to repeat this at the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation, then at the UN.
Alexander Dzasokhov, Chairman of the Syrian-Russian Friendship Association said that Russia, as people and leadership, has a unified stance to support Syria in its struggle against this global war.
At a lecture delivered in the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Minister al-Zoubi pointed out to the strong relations between Syria and Russia throughout history.
“Syria is a secular state which has been always a target for extremism and extremists.. Syria is facing Arab and western mass media which do not know what is really going on the Syrian land,” The Minister said.
He added that Syria is paying the price of that secularism, coexistence and religious diversity where it gathers 18 languages including the Aramaic language of the Christ.
“Syria has documents revealing that US officers are training, photographing and giving aids to the mercenaries who belong to the culture of al-Qaeda of Jabhat al-Nusra, Liwa al-Tawhid and many others,” the Minister went on saying.
He added “we are confident that the crisis in Syria will come to an end due to the awareness of the Syrian people and through the help of the Russian people and leadership led by President Vladimir Putin.
In a televised interview with ITAR TASS, the Minister affirmed that the Syrian government was the first who called for the political internal dialogue since May, 2011, this political dialogue has to be among the Syrians and there no relation to al-Qaeda or Jabhat al-Nusra.
He affirmed that the political program presented by President Bashar al-Assad on January 6th, 2013 is a comprehensive political, social and economic program, saying “this program is not a mere political vision, but there is a timetable for implementing it… the US, Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia hinder and obstruct any dialogue or carrying out this program.”
On the possibility of sending petroleum from regions in northern Syria to the EU countries, al-Zoubi said “there are main countries in the EU like France and Britain which are involved in the events in Syria..Their intelligence work in Syria and the neighboring regions.. They are involved in shedding the Syrian blood since the outbreak of events, so the EU decision is not surprising.
Mazen
Cabinet Condemns EU Decision… Syria will not allow looting its Resources
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DAMASCUS, (SANA)-The Syrian Cabinet on Tuesday condemned the European Union’s decision which allows its member countries to make transactions, import the stolen petroleum by the armed terrorist groups, affirming that the resources of Syria are only for the Syrian people.
“The Syrian government will not allow to any side in the world to loot, trade Syria in order to provide weapon and money to the terrorist gangs, particularly the Takfiri Jabhat al-Nusra,” the Cabinet said during a weekly session led by Premier Wael al-Halqi.
It underlined that the government will take all legal, military procedures to confront the robbers of the Syrian people’s resources, adding that the Syrian armed forces will control all Syrian territories soon.
Al-Halqi discussed with the Ministers the government’s efforts on all levels to tackle the impacts of the economic situation and its negative repercussions on the citizen’s livelihood due to the unfair embargo on the Syrian economy.
He affirmed that there is a strategic reserve of all nutritional, petroleum and consumer materials, saying “the previous shortages in some materials are improving.”
Foreign and Expatriates Minister Walid al-Moallem briefed the government on the latest political developments in the region and their repercussions on the Syrian situation.
Later, the Cabinet approved a draft law on the new General Sport Union.
Mazen
“EU Plan to Buy Syrian Oil from Militants Act of Aggression”
An EU plan to buy oil from militant-held areas of Syria is illegal and an “act of aggression,” the Syrian foreign ministry warned on Tuesday in letters to the United Nations.
“In an unprecedented decision that contradicts international law and the UN Charter… the European Union has decided to allow member states to import petrol… under the pretext of supporting the opposition,” state news agency SANA reported, citing the letters.
“It is an illegal decision and an act of aggression.”
Militant opposition groups fighting the President Bashar al-Assad’s troops won a fresh boost Monday when the European Union eased its oil embargo to let them exploit the resources they control.
But the decision raised a furious response in Damascus.
The European Union will be trading “with the so-called opposition Coalition, which represents no one in Syria,” the letters to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council said.
The decision is an act of “complicity in the theft of resources that belong to the Syrian people, represented by the current, legitimate government,” they added.
“The European Union is following its political and economic campaign that targets the national economy and the daily bread of Syrian citizens,” the ministry added, referring to EU sanctions on the Assad regime.
EU ministers’ decision to ease the 2011 oil embargo will enable companies on a case-by-case basis not only to import Syrian crude but also to export oil production technology and investment cash to areas in the hands of the militant opposition groups.
Under the deal, European firms seeking to import Syrian crude or invest in the energy sector would ask for authorization from their government, which in turn would confer with the so-called National Coalition to secure its agreement.
At the start of the unrest that broke out in March 2011, Syria’s oil production was slashed by almost two thirds, falling to 130,000 barrels a day in March, just 0.1 percent of the world’s total production, according to the International Energy Agency’s latest estimates.
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