We met with the president of the United States, Mr. Donald Trump,
four times in 2017 and we have expressed our absolute readiness
to reach a historic peace agreement. We repeatedly reaffirmed our
position in accordance with international law, the relevant U.N.
resolutions and the two-state solution on the basis of the 1967 borders.
Yet this administration has not clarified its position.
Is it for the two-state solution or for the one-state solution?
And then, in a dangerous, unprecedented manner,
this administration undertook an unlawful decision, which was
rejected by the international community to remove the issue
of Jerusalem off the table, without any reason.
It decided to recognize the city of Israel's capital and to transfer its
embassy to the city, to Jerusalem. It did so ignoring that East Jerusalem
is part of the Palestinian territory it has occupied since 1967 and it is our
capital, which we wish to be a city open for all the faithful of the three
monotheistic religions, especially Islam, Christianity and Judaism.
We are the Syrian Popular Forces, and we have come here to support
our people, the civilians in Afrin, who have been enduring the fiercest
of attacks from these Ottomans, these Seljuks, these occupiers,
past and present. We came to Afrin,
because we are one, we are one Syrian people.
It was detected that they (pro-Damascus, Shi'ite forces)
were moving towards Afrin. But when artillery fire was carried
out (by Turkish military) they had to turn back.
And this case is now closed for now.
Yesterday, in the talks with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and (Iranian
President) Rouhani, we had an agreement on these matters.
Unfortunately, as you know, these kinds of terror organizations
sometimes take wrong steps with the decisions they take by themselves. It
is not possible for us to allow this. They will pay a heavy price for this.