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President al-Assad Gives an Interview to the Iranian Television
 
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
 


 

President Bashar al-Assad gave an interview to the Iranian Television on the regional and international situations and the Syrian-Iranian relations as well as the developments in the region.

President al-Assad said in a question on the meaning of the strategic Syrian-Iranian relations that these relations are very strong and firm, adding that these relations linking the two countries didn't come as a result of an agreement after the Iranian revolution, between Imam Khomeini and late President Hafez al-Assad, but came as a result of objective things and accumulations of these relations which led to a strategic ties between the two countries.

His Excellency added that the Iranian revolution had announced from the first day of standing by the Palestinian issue contrary to the previous Iranian stance which had strong relations with Israel.

He stressed that "Iran has always stood by the Palestinian, Arab and Syrian rights….it stood against the Israeli aggression on the Palestinians and the Lebanese and the Syrians."

His Excellency stressed that the important thing in the strategic relations between the two sides is the independence of the Syrian decision and the independence of the Iranian decision, expressing the belief that this side is the most important in the existence of a strategic link between the two relationships.

His Excellency indicated that this independence was built on interests and principles for both countries, pointing out that these elements have big headlines dating back to almost thirty years since the Iranian revolution.

Answering a question whether the ideological difference between the two countries affect them, His Excellency said "there is no contradiction between religious belonging and national belonging…I'm Moslem and an Arab and a Syria….there is nationalism and pan-Arabism….your are a Moslem and an Iranian…we and you have Iranian Moslem and Syrian Moslem, and maybe we have some Syrian and Iranian Jewish communities. Religion calls for belonging to the nation and belonging to nationalism…there is no contradiction between them. The same thing applies to the Turkish nation…and the evidence for this is that our relations have been developing on the political and economic levels."

His Excellency added that "we have learned lessons, and we must be the makers of our future in this region based on what had happened after 11 September, especially the invasion of Afghanistan and later Iraq. Now there is a more active cooperation between Syria, Iran and Turkey…and must be developed to include other countries, particularly Iraq as we are neighboring countries."

On Syria's role in consolidating the Arab-Iranian relations, President al-Assad said that this role in its political side was present since the start of the Iranian revolution. "Some Arab countries used to doubt the Iranian stance towards the Arabs through the wrong understanding of the Iraqi-Iranian war at that time…Syria had played a positive role in eliminating this wrong understanding …now we are trying to play the same role because always thee are some people who try to doubt the Iranian-Arab relations."

President al-Assad added that the Syrian-Iranian strategic relations are very important for the region as it proved to be so during the last few decades, especially after the victory of the resistance in Lebanon, the steadfastness of the resistance in Palestine and the failure of the plots against the region.

His Excellency added that "the American administration is outgoing now…so what it can do during the remaining months…only one thing: more problems…but it's difficult and irrational for it to achieve any solution because whoever fails for seven years and eight months will not be able to succeed in four months…they didn't change their principles, their political discourse, so how can one believe they will succeed… this talk is impossible."

In reply to a question on the latest four-way meeting in Damascus, attended by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, President al-Assad said "no doubt President Sarkozy wants to regain the French role which had always existed…no doubt that the period of President Jacques Chirac had almost annulled the French political role at least outside Europe, particularly after Iraq war…President Sarkozy wants to restore the European role."

His Excellency added that "we must not expect that the West will be in the foreseeable future nearer to us than Israel for historical reasons regarding the issue of the Jews and the like. We want to see the start of a European role different from that of the US role."

On Sarkozy's talk about the Iranian nuclear file, President al-Assad said "the Syrian role is based on the necessity of freeing the Middle East from the mass destruction weapons, and subsequently this means that Israel must not possess nuclear weapons as it is the only country in the Middle East which now possesses nuclear bomb."

President al-Assad added that the agreement on the non-proliferation of mass destruction weapons gives any country in the world the right to have a peaceful civilian nuclear reactor. The European side calls on Iran to completely stop its legitimate nuclear project, and their justification is that there is no confidence in Iran…but lack of confidence in Iran doesn't mean that Iran abandons its right…that's what we said to the Europeans."

On Syria's vision regarding the latest events in Caucus and the possibility of the return of the cold war, President al-Assad said that this cold war hasn't started with Georgia but it started since Russian President Vladimir Putin came to power almost ten years ago when he started to gradually restore the dignity of the Russian state internally and outside…Many in the Western countries don't want to see a strong Russian role……the cold war was imposed by the U.S. and its allies in Europe not by Russia."

He added that "during my latest visit to Russia I told President Dmitry Medvedev that you have to know who are your real allies in the world…Russia, the great state and the superpower, cannot wage the cold war or face this cold war just inside the borders of Russia…it must play a more important role…of course we are not pushing towards a cold war…we don't have an interest in this war but have an interest in the existence of an international balance…we have suffered from the one-polar ssytem which is the U.S. "

On the indirect Syrian-Israeli negotiations under Turkish mediation and the possibility of Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Syrian Golan, President al-Assad said that "what is taking place now is not negotiations in the meaning of negotiations, but it was called so and continued through the media… what is taking place is similar to what had happened before Madrid Conference in 1991 when former US Secretary of State James Baker and started to shuttle between Syria and Israel to pave the ground for the direct negotiations which was launched in Madrid Conference. At that time there was no talk about indirect negotiations…now the same thing is happening; a Turkish mediator shuttle between Syria and Israel…the purpose for us is to make sure that the Israel will return the Golan or not."

He added that "so far this stage hasn't yet finished, and subsequently I cannot say that Israel is able or have the real intention in the peace through returning these lands. Our impression in Syria in general on the official and public level is that we do not trust the Israelis in general because of our experiments with them in the 1990's through peace negotiations and through the many crimes and massacres they have committed since 2000 till nowadays. There is the aggression on Syria, Lebanon and the threats against Iran and other hostile acts…Israel is built on the aggression and we cannot expect peace from it unless we see something on the ground…until this moment we didn't see this thing, so I can't say that the answer is yes…until now the answer is no…we don't trust the Israelis until they prove the contrary…"

His Excellency said that "apart from these negotiations, there has always been attempts for years to distance Syria from Iran and the resistance. There will be no such thing. Israel knows well where Syria does go and how it does that. We're not a country that builds temporary relations.  We're a country that have principles and interests. Our relations with Iran has been growing and consolidating day after day."

 

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