Firmly, Indonesia Supports The People Of Syria To Restore More Democratic Countries

Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs (Menlu) Sugiono.

JAKARTA - Indonesia fully supports the efforts of the Syrian people and their new government in determining the direction of Syrian development in the future to be more democratic and inclusive, said Indonesian Foreign Minister (Menlu) Sugiono.

"We support the Syrian people in determining the direction of their country's progress and affirming the importance of an inclusive and democratic political process led and owned by the Syrian people themselves (Syrian-led and Syrian-own)," Sugiono said at the Extraordinary Ministerial Conference (KTM-LB) of Islamic Cooperation Organizations (OKI) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Friday (7/3).

According to a written statement from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs received in Jakarta, Saturday (8/3), Indonesia also welcomed the re-joining of Syria to the OIC after being suspended since 2012.

The freezing of Syria's membership was agreed at the 4th OIC Extraordinary Summit in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, in August 2012 following the increasing violence of the Bashar Al-Assad regime against the Syrian people in the early phase of civil war, according to Anadolu.

In the KTM-LB on Friday, the OIC member state approved a resolution on the restoration of Syria's membership in the OKI, thus becoming the second resolution to be ratified after a Resolution on the Palestinian Situation that contained support for the Gaza reconstruction process.

According to the Foreign Minister, the restoration of Syria's membership status will bring enormous benefits in the recovery of conditions in Syria for the brighter future of the country.

In addition, Sugiono also urged the OIC to continue to struggle to demand a full withdrawal and immediately Israeli military forces from Syrian territory.

According to information from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the KTM-LB OKI was attended by 46 OIC member countries, of which 27 were represented by foreign ministers such as from Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Morocco, and Turkey.

On the same occasion, the Indonesian Foreign Minister also conveyed three key steps in responding to the situation in Palestine which has not yet recovered and is now threatened by the stagnation of ceasefire negotiations.

The three steps are to ensure a ceasefire is continued and obeyed, ensure Gaza's restoration and reconstruction is carried out in accordance with the interests of the Palestinian people without forced relocation, as well as strengthen efforts to realize the two-state solution.