Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Damascus, SANA-President Bashar al-Assad met on Monday members of the central Bar Association and the affiliated councils in the Syrian cities.
The President affirmed the important role played by popular organizations and syndicates as they can play a basic role and a bridge between the government and society in a lot of sectors.
President al-Assad added that the role of those organizations doesn’t stop at defending the sector they represent, but it goes beyond to raise awareness in the national and political meaning.
The President went on to say that talking about rights and law actually means talking about the safety of society, adding that when this sector is good, the Homeland will be perfect and capable of defending the oppressed, but to do so, all should work for developing the laws and the legal system related to the task of lawyers and judges.
President al-Assad presented a political brief on the latest developments related to the crisis in Syria, saying that the war to which Syria is exposed is not only during the last 5-years, but it was at least during the last three decades, adding “it is a war of terms that has actually started with the emergence of satellites and TV channels that expanded with the coming of internet to each house.”
The President affirmed that the Arabs have failed in this part (the terms), saying “If there were successes in Syria during the past decades, they have been achieved because of our understanding on the political level to those terms.”
President al-Assad added “when we talk about the crisis and the division would be in the political and media discourse on the patriotism and non-patriotism, in other words, at the beginning of the crisis, when one of them said we are against violence of the two sides, simply he/ she didn’t differentiate between the concept of the state and the terrorist, he/she doesn’t know the duties of the state and the duties of the others, who bears weapon and who doesn’t, who has the right to shoot fire and who has not, a lot of people had no distinction between the concept of the government and the state… the government is part of the state, but it is not the whole state… so, we were unable to distinct between opposing the state or opposing the government.”
“Any person has the right to oppose the government and its policies, call for changing the government or changing its policies, but, no one can change the State… the State is a need for all,” the President said.
The President added “Another point is differentiating between the State and the regime… unfortunately, until now, the pro-state media or the pro-government media talk about the concept of regime and this is a dangerous issue, the word of regime, when used, it is an insult, not only for the government, but it is an insult for the people.”
Anyhow, the President goes on, issues became clear after 5 years of the crisis, in the beginning, there were attempts of provocation in order to take the form of popular revolution, this was 2 to 3 months before the outbreak of incidents through internet and different media… these attempts have failed, and when they began to pay money to a lot of persons through Qatar, and when we have searched about those persons and why they left their works, some of them simply said they receive in return for half an hour what equals one-week work.
“At the highest of estimates, protesters who took to the streets all over Syria at once numbered 150, 000. Most of them were paid in advance. Suppose that this number is multiplied to reach a million, which is not true: then it is one million out of 24, which is worthless. When they failed in this, they turned to the arms issue in its broad sense. When they failed in this at the early stages they turned to backing al-Nusra and later ISIS until we reached the current status quo.”
Five years later, the President added, they managed to wreak havoc to vast parts of infrastructure and caused considerable damage to economy, indicating that one thing was proved: that the West is always capable of destruction but not rebuilding in its own way.
He said the efforts of Western countries have been centered on backing terrorism. “In the meantime, the primary game was political which is still on dubbing it ‘political solution’ in an attempt to give the impression, first to their local public opinion, that they are peaceful states which pursue peaceful policies in Syria.”
“Second,” the President went on to say, “this political track was used to provide cover for their Syrian agents to cast them as a group of peaceful politicians who want to bring deliverance to the Syrian people who are suffering from oppression, killing and lack of democracy…etc…”
The president explained that the scheme of a “political solution” they promoted was meant to create confusion in the minds of ordinary people as opposed to a military one. “Unconsciously, people would consider a political solution as a substitute for a military one, so that they do not notice that they run in parallel.
“Fully knowing their bad intentions, we have been receptive to all political initiatives so as to halt them in their tracks.”
Most dangerous of all, the President added, is the impression they gave that what is happening in Syria is a “civil war” among Syrians, rather than an external war, lamenting the fact that friendly media has picked up on the term and started using it.
President al-Assad said the political track in the previous years, especially after Geneva conference in 2012 was summed up in the so-called “transitional governing body”: a structure for an inner political conflict that reaches all social levels, which means a state of utter paralysis. This structure disassembles all basic structures, particularly the armed forces leaving us with one choice: a sectarian constitution. This encourages recourse to the sect. When this happens, sects are pitted against each other. Each sect seeks to strengthen its own position by seeking external support until the homeland becomes depended on external sides. “
The President added that after Geneva 2, they began the military escalation and increased support for terrorists until we reached the presidential elections which dealt a blow for them, particularly in the volume of participation inside and outside Syria, it was a blow because it was an assertion on constitution in the first degree… the Syrian people has committed to constitution and has proven it is united and has a homeland and a state in its civilized concept.
“At that time, and after that stage, they shifted to move ISIS into the central, north and eastern regions in order to disperse the efforts of the Syrian army which was advancing steadily at that period,” the President said.
President al-Assad added “We reached to the current situation when the Russian intervention started through the counter-terrorism front and reached what was supposed to be named Geneva 3, anticipated by Vienna statement and the two resolutions 2253 and 2254.”
The president affirmed that priority for the Syrian people is to combat terrorism, adding “The important thing is only one; the decision is for the Syrian people, of course, in addition to Syria’s sovereignty and unity, this is decisive and indisputable, but for them, they put aside all these issues and talk about transitional body, this is contradiction… actually all those resolutions are an outcome of settlements for an international conflict between two axes; an axis that wants to prove the international legitimacy and depending on the UN charter, and another axis which wants to dominate; of course it is the west, turning a blind eye to all these charters.”
“There might be a Syrian-Syrian dialogue to reach a specified thing, but if this will target or harm the constitution and exceeds the capacity of the government, there should be a referendum, and in this case each Syrian citizen will be a contributor to this issue,” the President said.
The President added that we are in need for a reform on the political, economic and social level, and, at the same time, we are in need for stability, what is more important is that any transitional process whatsoever, it should be subjected to the current constitution.
On the proposal of cease-fire, the President said that when the west talks about cease-fire, “I believe the answer is very clear; when gunmen suffer, when they are defeated, the term cease-fore happens between armies and states, but it doesn’t go between a state and terrorists, so this term is wrong, it might be a halt for operations, a halt for combatant acts… cease-fire means actually the stop of terrorists’ boosting of their positions, it is not allowed to transport their weapons or munitions, it is not allowed to boost their positions, all of these things are unacceptable.”
The President affirmed that there are many questions now about who are terrorists, they talk about ISIS, al-Nusra, Ahrar al-Cham or Jaish al-Islam, saying “As a state, anyone who bears weapon against the State and against the Syrian people is terrorist, and this is indisputable.”
President al-Assad went on to say “when we discuss whether Turkey or Saudi Arabia will attack or not, this means that we give them a bigger volume, as they are two states that possess a decision or a will that can change the map; they are mere subordinates.”
“Entering Syria and waging a war in Syria is seen within the international frame… it is not a simple issue that Al Saud like to make a picnic in Syria and change everything in it… so we should not be worried, but we have to not rule out stupidities, they are present.”
At last, the President says, when we talk about a political track, the essence of this issue, regardless of their proposals, is who is the partner, this is the question, who is the partner in the political solution, I believe that the answer is very difficult, adding that the delegation which was formed in al-Riyadh ..” birds of one feather flock together” is a mixture of terrorists and betrayers.
“When we talk about a Syrian-Syrian dialogue, this means that we will negotiate Syrians that belong to the Syrian people, their roots are in Syria, not in the other states, if we negotiated al-Riyadh delegation, so we negotiate Saudi Arabia and we will not discuss with them the Syrian constitution, we can discuss the Saudi constitution, like the human rights in Saudi Arabia,” President al-Assad said.
The President added that when the delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic goes to the dialogue, it represents each Syrian honest citizen, it represents each combatant in the front-line and it represents every martyr and his family.
President al-Assad affirmed that the real solution, in addition to combating terrorism, is the national reconciliations which have proven a benefit to a great deal, and committing to constitution.
Talking about solutions and challenges, President al-Assad stressed the need for combating corruption in the state institutions at first and in the equivalent institutions, wondering “How could we achieve development in a time that we are suffering from the depletion of cadres through refuge behind different reason?”
“Some seek refuge for living conditions and some go because they are afraid of the general situation; some are being threatened by terrorists and at the same time there are some who are themselves terrorists and went out from their incubation environment but all in all there is a great depletion of cadres because of seeking refuge and it is also a desertion of the homeland and a refrainment from defending it although we do not put all those in the same framework,” he added, expressing belief that a lot of Syrian refuge seekers want to return back to Syria today.
President al-Assad said that “We must win anyway and we have got no other choices because we are right owners but the right does not win rather the right owners are those who win and the right does not come back on its own but it must be restored.”
“If there is anyone who is waiting for this right to come back it won’t, and if we have to restore it we should realize that the cost is so expensive and those who think that they will restore the right without paying the cost they should put in mind that this right is lost…the first defender of this right is the Syrian Arab Army and they pay the cost with their blood,” he added.
Manal/Mazen/Milhem/ Barry
