Syria: Al-Shihabi: We Have Decisive Evidence on Turkey's Involvement in Robbing Factories in Aleppo

Jan 17, 2013

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – Head of the Federation of Syrian Chambers of Industry, Eng. Fares Shihabi, stressed that Aleppo Industry Chamber has decisive evidence on the involvement of the Turkish government in stealing production lines and machines from hundreds of factories in Aleppo city and smuggling them into the Turkish territories in clear breach of the international laws.
In a statement to SANA, al-Shihabi said that robbing factories and facilities in Aleppo aims at destroying the Syrian economy, causing damage to the Syrian industry, the competitor to the Turkish products, and creating a gap between the national business sector and the state in Syria.
He added that the industrials in Aleppo accuse the Turkish government of practicing terrorism, criminality and robbery in a deliberate and methodical way against the Syrian industry and they call for forming a neutral international committee to investigate the reality of robbing factories in Aleppo.
Al-Shihabi called upon the current Turkish government to compensate for damage caused to the industry sector in Aleppo since it facilitated the passage of terrorist gunmen through its borders to Syria and harbored them and they are the same ones who stole and smuggled the machines and production lines in Syrian factories.
He said that the terrorists robbed around 1,000 factories with all their equipment and machines in Aleppo city, indicating that the initial estimate of damage caused to industrial facilities and factories in Aleppo due to the terrorist acts exceeded SYP 200 billion.
He noted that the estimated amount did not include damage caused to building and archeological markets or the losses inflicted upon industrials since these factories went out of service.
Al-Shihabi called upon the national opposition to deny its relationship to the terrorists and gunmen who rob factories in its name, avoid covering these crimes and work on preventing such criminal acts.
He stressed the necessity of eliminating all terrorists in Aleppo and restore security and stability to it so that the industrials will be able to rebuild these factories again.
He added that these terrorist acts are crimes against the Syrians and target their livelihood, including traders and industrials who were also victims.