Al-Assad views on regional political issues facing Syria
Syria-Regional, Politics, 12/28/2005

Syria underlined on Tuesday that the Syrian-Turkish ties are making headway and becoming more consolidated noting that Turkey believes in the unfairness of what is happening to Syria these days.

In an interview with the Turkish T.V. Sky News, Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said the Syrian-Turkish ties are progressing in a constant and firm way and there is a conviction in Turkish institutions and many world countries of the unfairness of what is happening to Syria now and that these pressures are of political aims.

"I can say that the relationship with Turkey is moving ahead in all economic, political, economic and security coordination, natural social ties and historical domains and they are progressing as well becoming more consolidated by time," al-Assad said.

Talking about the economic side of ties with Turkey, President al-Assad noted that the economic treaties were moving forward despite that sometimes there might be obstacles due to the bureaucratic mechanism either in Syria or Turkey saying that these obstructions might sometimes delay the implementation of some things.

He pointed out that Syria is now improving a lot of mechanism it has and with this development the ties are accelerating and there are regular and continuous meetings between businessmen and officials in both countries.

Al-Assad said the Turkish policy has moved towards openness regarding neighboring countries and Syria did things are improving further.

President al-Assad said that Turkey has made a very courageous suggestion regarding the investigation with Syrian officers by the UNIIIC (UN Rafiq al-Hariri murder investigation) noting that Turkey presented the site of Ghazi Eintab to hold the inquires there while no other state a similar offer "which we appreciate" saying that he does not believe that change in ties between Turkey and Syria might have led to such suggestion.

The Turkish suggestion was not accepted by the UNIIIC but Syria approved it and considered it as very good, President al-Assad said.

Talking about the two reports of UN inspector Detlev Mehlis, President Assad said "by all means we have notes on the first and second reports and perhaps we do have conclusions. The report is a narrative of meetings with persons real and false witnesses, but at the end, the report said it is has not reached final conclusions. The most dangerous was that the two UN Security Council decisions were built on the two reports, which are not final."

The president agreed that what is happening in Lebanon is causing international pressure on Syria saying "Yes, the truth is that the issue is political in a clear way and has no relation to criminal actions taking place in Lebanon," noting that "what we expect is that the report would be professional and a means to find out who has committed the crime of killing (prime minister) Hariri. For us in Syria, we think that this report when reaches its final result, it will acquit Syria. This is in case it was objective, and far from political pressures. But regarding, raising fingers at Syria, of course and as I said before: we reject these accusations and condemn these crimes," President al-Assad said.

President al-Assad emphasized that "Rafiq al-Hariri was a friend of Syria and was cooperative with her till the end," noting that "he had declared statements in this respect, but they were those who accuse Syria that she has threatened him on the subject of extension to Lebanese President Emile Lahoud." President al-Assad said that Hariri responded to the Syrian demand and "that means Hariri had no position against Syria to say that he had differences with her." Al-Assad gave that as an example of mechanism for some explanations to what is happening "because of the bad intentions or good intentions" but clarified that "all what is said is nothing but rumors or fabricated stories in advance to condemn Syria."

"I previously declared in a clear way that if there was a Syrian involved in any criminal action of these operations, he would be tried. This is, as I said in a previous interview, considered a treason in the Syrian law," al-Assad said.

Asked about the meaning of the so-called "Greater Middle East", President al-Assad said "the most important point in this respect was the content which must not contradict with our interests, our natural historical ties with our culture because when culture is affected it leads to negative results influencing the region stability. I dont think that far away from intentions of those who propose these idioms, there is somebody who is capable of understanding our idioms more than we do. The suggestion should come from these states which mean despite of our respect to others view points; we cant allow research centers to define our future because our history defines our interests and our direct contacts as states living in the region," President al-Assad said.

On the democratic reform in Syria, President al-Assad added that saying that development has to be rapid is impossible, because the issue is related to human and financial capabilities as well as it is related to the political conditions the region and Syria are passing through. "We are under siege in everything.. in technology, even the companies that might help us in the process of development are being prevented from coming to Syria," President al-Assad elaborated.

"The most important thing is to walk forward, clearly there might be slowness, but there is no stop for this process," he said.

On the US occupation of Iraq and the border issue with the Arab neighboring state, President al-Assad said that Syria has an interest in controlling the borders aside from any US demand, adding the problem "is an old problem" that predates the US invasion of Iraq. "Syria has adopted procedures to control borders with Iraq, but if we look into the other side of Iraq borders, you can notice that there is not any US and Iraqi measure to do the same," the president added.

He said that "in spite of the fact that the Syrian-Turkish borders are geographically complicated and longer, they are more controlled due to the Syrian-Turkish cooperation."

On relations with the Iraqi people, al-Assad said that the Iraqis understand Syria's stance and know very well that Syria has no relation to the terrorists infiltration into Iraq.

"Terrorists are coming from other states, but the accusation are against Syria. There is more understanding of Syria's stance during the last months, internationally, particularly after the issuance of the first and second reports on Lebanon.. so the image now is better than before, political games can't continue when they are based on illusions, they remain temporal," al-Assad said.

On Iraq's future and elections, he said that "the Iraqi future depends on constitution and what is proposed regarding federalism. We consider that the essence of the matter is the unity of Iraq, the essence of future.. the essence of the region future is not only Iraq, but Syria, Turkey and the rest of states, and even remote couturiers that their future and stability depend on the future of Iraq. Any federalism which is built on a sect or race basis will lead to the division of Iraq or to the instigation of riots among Iraqis if there is a need or necessity to the federalism in Iraq, it should be based only on a national factor," the president added.

On the Syrian concept of the Kurdish issue inside Syria, President al-Assad said "Kurds are a basic part of our social body in our region, this part is not artificial, but we should separate terrorist acts and extremist parties from the Kurdish issue."

He elaborated that "the Kurdish problem in Syria is a technical problem related to a statistics of the year 1962 and Syria is working now to solve the Kurdish problem."

On the peace process, al-Assad noted that "we don't see any interest of the Israeli government or an Israeli popular inclination to peace. Syria is still committed to the peace process based on the UN and Security Council resolutions The current US administration doesn't show any interest or wish for peace, particularly on the Syrian track."

He added that "if the third party (the US) and the Israeli party are not interested in the peace process, we cant expect there will be any serious move soon."

In this context, President al-Assad expressed support to any Turkish role in this issue.

On Iran, the president said that Iran has the right to possess nuclear materials for peaceful purposes, but, the the president wonders "what about the Israeli nuclear weapons? Syria's permanent stance is making the Middle East an area free from weapons of mass destruction and Syria submitted a proposal in 2003 to the UN Security Council to free the region from (WMD)," President al-Assad added.

On international political blocs, al-Assad noted that Syria seeks to be a partner with Europe, not a part of the European Union, but the partnership is also quest in this direction, referring to the Arab Joint Market and to other political blocs in Asia. On the role of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and the United Nation, President al-Assad underlined that OIC is not a substitution to the UN, but it is integrated to it. When the UN is converted to be a tool by the hands of some superpowers, then the OIC and other political blocs become a substitute to the UN, he added.

He added that away from the UN role, the OIC is very important in the sense that "we live in time which is not only witnessing an economic and political conflict, but a cultural war that takes a clear flagrant direction against Islam."

He announced that he would very soon visit Turkey at the beginning of next year upon invitation of the Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and the Turkish Premier Recep Tayyeb Erdogan.

Previous Stories:
  Tension between Hizbullah and Junblat   (12/27/2005)
  Lebanese personalities emphasize the distinguished ties with Syria   (12/27/2005)
  Turkey denies cooperation with US against Iran and Syria   (12/26/2005)
  Arab efforts to contain the Syrian- Lebanese crisis   (12/22/2005)
  Syria - Iran facing common pressure, officials say   (12/22/2005)
  Syrian view on hostile regional policies it is facing   (12/22/2005)
  Syrian view on hostile regional policies it is facing   (12/22/2005)
  OIC warns against putting pressures on Syria   (12/21/2005)
  Asharq Al-Awsat: Syrian authorities arrest 12 members of terror organization   (12/14/2005)
  Al-Assad confers with al-Harith al-Dari   (12/12/2005)
  Rafsanjani criticizes pressures and threats against Syria   (11/26/2005)
  Gul informs Annan on his visit to Syria   (11/19/2005)
  Gul denies carrying any message to Syria from any other state   (11/18/2005)

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