President Hassan Rouhani said here Friday upon his arrival back home from Davos World Economic Forum that the Islamic Republic of Iran's presence in the 48th Davos Forum overshadowed the Geneva II conference on Syria, IRNA reported.
"Both during the course of the Davos gathering and in the three, or four interviews that we had with Swiss TV, the CNN and the Euronews, the coverage of the news, and generally speaking the developments in Davos, overshadowed the Geneva 2 conference," said Rouhani.
He said that on the sidelines of the Davos World Economic Forum there were detailed talks on Syria, arguing that in such conferences the Syrian issue will not be resolved.
"I told some European leaders that in case of the Syrian issue the first step is making a collective decision to encounter the terrorism, and to deport the terrorists from Syria," added the president.
Rouhani reiterated that the second point is that everyone should decide to assist the Syrian people who are entangled with many problems today, both those who are inside Syria and the Syrian refugees, so that they would manage to achieve better living conditions.
The president said that the point is that everyone's efforts should be aimed at providing an appropriate ground for negotiations between the Syrian opponents and the Syrian government so that they would manage to make decisions about the future of Syria.
"If anyone thinks he can make decisions (about the Syrian nation) outside Syria, he is making a mistake. It is the Syrian nation that must decide about its own future. Appropriate conditions for holding a free and fair election in the future need to be provided," he added.
The president also referred to his meetings with the world leaders on the sidelines of the Davos Forum, reiterating that in the course of the negotiations with them, they, too, were agreed with the point that the Syrian crisis could not be resolved through holding such gatherings.