Al-Assad signs the Olympic Truce
Syria-Greece, Politics, 12/17/2003

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad signed in Athens on Tuesday the statement of the world figures for supporting the Olympic Truce.

On the occasion of signing this statement, al-Assad thanked in his address Greek Foreign Minister for the invitation of signing the Olympic Truce, describing it as a symbolic action which represents the real desire to achieve peace over all the world.

President al-Assad said following the signing I believe that the symbolic initiative of the Greek government represents an important action due to its meaning which doesn't mean only that there is no violence during the Olympic games, but is the symbolic start to reach an every-day continued peace.

"It is not by accident that I have signed this truce in Athens... if we turn back to the joint history we share, we could see that the Greek and the Roman histories still exist in Syria and in Greece... We gave the Roman Empire five Emperors from Syria which means that we were able before 2000 years to set up a dialogue and following more than 1000 years of dialogue with the Hellenic civilization which reached our region and affected the Islamic civilization up till now," President al-Assad said.

"The motto of the Truce is casting away violence.. violence doesn't accord with development and prosperityÉ.and development contradicts war and terrorism, so it is not by accident that the first initiative in the world to hold an international conference to combat terrorism started from Athens by Late President Hafez al-Assad in 1986," President Bashar al-Assad underlined.

"Your history is a history of peace, and ours is also a peace one, despite the fact we lived in the heart of wars for many centuries, so we should work together starting from this symbolic step... to join with the other steps which we had made to achieve peace in Palestine, in Iraq and in the Middle East."

Following the signing ceremony, Greece's foreign minister George Papandreou said in his address that "it is a great honor have you with us, as your country has warm relations with others... but the reality of your being with us to sign the truce is in itself a peace message, because you have come from the Middle East which has been suffering from difficult problems, so your being here and readiness to support this issue is a strong peace message."

The Olympic Truce is an old tradition related to the year 776 B.C. when Greece witnessed disputes and wars among its cities.

The Greek kings agreed on this truce, and the first Olympic games was established. The truce was respected for more than 1200 years, and Greece is trying now to revive this truce. The truce was signed by 27 heads of states and 60 foreign ministers.

Previous Stories:
  Al-Assad visit Greek parliament: the Mediterranean to be nuclear free zone   (12/16/2003)
  Syrian- Greek presidents joint press conference   (12/16/2003)
  Al-Assad, wife arrive in Greece   (12/15/2003)

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