Former MP returns to Syria after being forced to announce defection

Former member of the People’s Assembly Sheikh Mohammad al-Hilo called upon all Syrians abroad to return to Syria to settle their legal status and participate in building the country through dialogue which is the only solution to any crisis or dispute.
In an interview with the Syrian TV on Friday, al-Hilo narrated the details of his fleeing from Syria and how he announced his defection, saying “Armed terrorist groups entered al-Hasaka Province in November 2012, and I was forced to flee to Turkey which is the nearest place,”
He added that the Turkish police took him to a police station, and after that he went to the house of his relative where he was asked by Gilan Pienaar Governor in the city of Sanliurfa to see him there where he met Nawwaf al-Bashir and a Turkish Lt. Gen. and Sheikh Omar who is the leader of an armed terrorist battalion in Ayn al-Arab.
” The Turkish official told us to announce our defection before the mass media which was at his office and I was told that Sheikh Omar will take me with him, if I reject to declare my defection, so I agreed because I was afraid,” al-Hilo clarified.
He indicated that the Turkish official offered to give him a house, protection and salary, but he rejected because he was thinking of returning to Syria.
Al-Hilo said that he has been forced to attend some activities of the so called “opposition”, and finally he travelled to Saudi Arabia and later phoned one of his relatives in Syria and told him that he wants to return to Syria, and after that he returned to Tartous city and turned himself in to competent authorities where his legal status was settled and he was treated well.