Aoun stands minute of silence in mourning of Istanbul attack

President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, stood a minute of silence at 3.00 p.m. this afternoon in mourning of the souls of the three Lebanese martyrs who were killed in the Istanbul terrorist attack on New Year's Eve.

The President received today a delegation of the Lebanese Diaspora at Baabda Palace who came from the Gulf, Africa, Europe and America, whereby he stressed before them that what has been achieved so far constitutes "a first step in the dream march long aspired by the Lebanese."

The President underlined "the importance of the participation of the Lebanese Diaspora in the struggle to achieve the dream which became a reality nowadays," hoping "that the spirit of struggle remains alive and turns into other goals under the rubric of achieving the country's reform and attaining the desired change."

"These goals require efforts and serious work," Aoun said, saying we "are at the beginning of a renaissance."

Aoun pledged the Lebanese Diaspora that they shall have a homeland which would restore its pride and pioneering position in the Middle East, as it was in the past.

In reply to a question on the Istanbul terrorist attack on New Year's Eve, Aoun fervently deplored the terrorist acts, saying that the national solidarity scene witnessed at the International Rafic Hariri Airport yesterday upon the arrival of the martyrs' bodies and the wounded reflected an outright Lebanese unity regardless of surrounding challenges.

Source:NNA