German Television Interviews Syrian President Assad

Germany made a step towards accepting Assad as a discussion partner, broadcasting a 25-minute interview with him for Germany’s state-run ARD TV channel.  In the interview conducted by ARD March 1, Assad says the ceasefire process was much delayed because of “the other countries who supervise the terrorists to work for them, mainly the Americans.”  As for the Syrian government, it started the process of internal reconciliation years ago, and if opposition militants put down their weapons and agree to rejoin civil life and to cooperate, they will get an amnesty.  The mixed group of foreigners and Syrians in the groups who share the ideology of an “Islamic State,” don’t accept anything “that doesn’t look like them,” he said.

Assad also said that the fact that many Syrians abroad, including refugees, took part in the last Presidential elections of Syria, is not taken notice of in the Western countries, although it shows that the majority of citizens, even those outside of Syria, remain interested and active in the political life of their country.

Asked whether he would be willing to step down, Assad said if the majority of the population wanted a change, he would of course step down, but the decision had to be made by the Syrians themselves.  He denounced the entire regime change discussion, asking, for example, if he were to demand that the German Chancellor step down, what would be the reaction in Germany to that?

Political changes in Syria are possible with a newly elected parliament, Assad said, but the state’s integrity and its Constitution must be kept, as must be the tolerance of religion—but IS and its backers abroad want to destroy the Syrian state, dividing it up according to religion.  At present, there is a humanitarian catastrophe in Syria, Assad added, denouncing charges that the government was sealing cities off under military siege as propaganda, because if the Syrian Army is not in a position to prevent the terrorists from continuing to receive weapons in these cities, it is not in a position to prevent food from being delivered into these same cities either. After all, the government is still sending vaccines even into Raqqa, despite the fact that it is occupied by IS.

Assad said he would wish Europe to play a constructive role onsite in Syria, which was in any case less expensive and more efficient than being occupied with the refugee influx, and he would also like Germany to play a leading role, but for that, Europe and Germany had to get more independent from the USA. Concerning Syria’s allies in this war—Russia, Iran, Lebanon, they are also fighting in their own interest in Syria, because IS and Al Nusra pose a threat also to these countries.  That Western politicians and media justify Syrian oppositionists using weapons against their own government, cannot be accepted, Assad added, because no western government would accept their own political opposition’s taking up arms.  And the western embargo against Syria is hitting the entire  population, worsening the situation.