President Bashar
al-Assad's Address to the People’s Council
July 17, 2000
As I stand today in this gracious Parliament all I can do is to start my
address by thanking the Almighty God for granting us the strength in this
resolute country and for providing us with the appropriate means that helped
us bear the painful tragedy that has befallen all of us. I would also like to
thank you all for the precious trust you have put in me and which you have
expressed through your endorsement of what was contained in the letter from
the Regional Leadership of the Baath Arab Socialist Party that included
nominating me to the post of President of the Republic. I truly appreciate all
the efforts you have exerted in your deliberations relating to the contents of
this letter, these deliberations that revealed your high sense of
responsibility and your abundant feeling of love for your country. From behind
this podium I would like to express a very special thank to all our people,
men and women, old and young, inside and outside Syria who bestowed upon me
their trust through voting in the referendum and through their active
participation in this national duty. I would also like to thank them for all
the love and loyalty they expressed to me which had a great effect on me and
granted me strength and optimism in the future.
The result of the referendum is an expression of the will of the people and
there is nothing I can do except to respond to the will of the people and to
willingly accept to carry the mission I am asked to carry and shoulder the
burdens and tasks related to fulfilling my duty during these very delicate and
sensitive circumstances which our country, our nation and the world at large
are going through at the moment. I shall try my very best to lead our country
towards a future that fulfils the hopes and legitimate ambitions of our
people. These tasks are both very difficult and very easy. These tasks are
very easy because the great leader, Hafez al-Assad has prepared for us a firm
ground, solid basis and a great heritage of values and principles which he
defended and adhered to till he parted with us and moved to the after life.
Added to this the infrastructure and the great achievements in all fields and
throughout the country that will enable us to launch our work strongly and
confidently towards a future we all desire. Yet, these tasks are difficult
because the approach of the great leader, Hafez al-Assad, was a very special
and unique approach and therefore it is not easy to emulate it especially as
we remember that we are required not just to maintain it but to develop it as
well. This
undoubtedly requires great efforts and work at all levels with the aim of
building on the basis of what has been achieved in the glorious period of
Assad to continue with what has been achieved and to multiply the steps
determined to overcome the difficulties and cope with the challenges without
giving up our national principles ordained in our hearts and minds. In all
this we have to imitate his wisdom by transforming sorrow to a creative energy
and the painful event to continuous work and achievement.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I said this yesterday and I reiterate it today that I am not after any post
nor do I avoid any responsibility. The post is not an end but a means to
achieve an end. And now, and since my people have honored me with their choice
of me as president of the Republic and after I have been sworn in and assumed
my responsibilities I would like to say that I have assumed the post but I
have not occupied the position; the post has changed but the position remains
unchanged since I was born and where the Almighty God wanted me to be and
where our people desired me to stand since they have known that there is some
one who truly loves his people and whose people truly love him and are loyal
to him and where my parents and my family wanted me to be and in the place
which I am determined to maintain and cherish to be strong by it and through
it. This position that never changes is the position from which I serve my
people and my country. The question now is what does this new post add to the
position in which I have always found myself? I have always said to those I
met with, that the post is a responsibility but the position has imposed this
responsibility on me beforehand. Some might say that the post gives the
legitimacy, but the legitimacy is first and foremost the will of the people
and their desire. The importance of your vote on my nomination stems from the
fact that it is a response to the desire of our people whom you represent in
all their different strata. Hence, we can say that the responsibility is
towards the interest of the people and the legitimacy is the people's will and
their desire. The post is only the framework combines the two and regulates
their relationship. Thus this post has added a huge burden to my position, a
burden that consists of your love, trust, ambitions and hopes that I shall,
with the will of God, be able to shoulder with your help and support. Every
decent citizen has to put himself in a the position I have indicated above,
shoulder his/her responsibility and to believe in legitimacy even if he were
in situation that does not allow him to implement his ideas. The post does not
engender responsibility, the opposite is true. The post deprives one of his
responsibility and allows him to exercise it only through the authority
granted to him. Whenever a person who has no sense of responsibility assumes a
post he can take nothing out of it except power and power without a sense of
responsibility is the source of chaos, carelessness and the destruction of
institutions.
The ideal state of affairs is that every one should feel responsible and this
does not mean that every one should occupy a post. Posts are basic junctures
in which the performance of society is continuously checked, inspected and
energized in two directions: from top to bottom and from bottom to top. Thus,
if anything went wrong at the bottom this will reflect at the performance of
the top, and if any one at the top violated the rule this will reflect
negatively on the bottom. Thus society will not develop, improve or prosper if
it were to depend only on one sect or one party or one group; rather, it has
to depend on the work of all citizens in the entire society. That is why I
find it absolutely necessary to call upon every single citizen to participate
in the process of development and modernization if we are truly honest and
serious in attaining the desired results in the very near future. As we are
speaking about development, which I believe, is the major concern of every
citizen in this country and in all fields, we have to know in which direction
we are treading and what is the best way to take and what are the desired
results. The answers to such questions constitute the compass that determines
our current and future moves. In order to achieve what we aspire to achieve we
have to move at three basic fronts at one and the same time:
First: to suggest new ideas in all domains whether in order to solve our
current problems and difficulties or in order to improve the current
situation. Second: to renew old ideas which are no longer appropriate to our
reality with the possibility of discarding outdated ideas which can neither be
renewed nor could they be beneficial; rather they have become an obstacle in
the way of our performance. Third: to improve old ideas and renew them in
order to be suitable to the current and future purposes. Each work needs to be
assessed in order to determine the percentage of progress and achievement in
it.
It is useful in this regard to adopt a set of measurers: The first measure is
the time factor which we should use to the utmost extent in order to achieve
what we aspire to achieve in the shortest time possible. The second measure is
the nature of the situation in which we live and the different circumstances:
internal and external, which surround us. The third measure is the potential
we possess in order to start our pursuit to reach the designated objective,
taking into account that the potentials are not fixed givens but they are
susceptible to modification and change through our efforts and effectiveness.
The fourth measure is the public interest at which all previous measures meet
and through which all of them should be determined. This is a measure and an
objective at one and the same time. What is the value of any work we do if it
is not navigated by public interest? But in order to make the required move,
and with confidence that we shall succeed, we have to have a certain set of
means the most important among which are: The creative mind that cannot be
stopped at any limit and does not confine itself to any fixed framework. Today
and tomorrow we are in desperate need to creative minds in order to push the
development process forward. Some people may believe that creative minds are
linked to age and that they can frequently be found with the youth but this is
not quite accurate. Some people of a young age have strong minds and some
elderly people may depart this life with minds that are still so lively and
creative.
We are also in desperate need to constructive criticism which is the exact
opposite of destructive criticism that often colors most discussions and
proposals for various reasons whether they are personal or otherwise. In order
to be constructive in our criticism we have to be objective in our thinking.
Objectivity dictates that we should view each topic from more than one
perspective and under more than one circumstance. Hence, we analyze it in more
than one way and then we may reach more than one possibility, or at least the
best possibility or the closest to the truth. We have to stop ushering
criticism with the objective of beseeching people or of inviting people to
clap hands for us or with the aim of provocation or malice. This is a waste of
energy and time that we can well do without. When we say constructive
criticism and an objective opinion this will necessarily mean to view the
topics under criticism in a complete and comprehensive fashion in a way that
enables us to see the positive points as well as the negative ones. In this
way we will be able to increase the positive points at the expense of the
negative ones and this is the only way to development.
As we are speaking about instruments we cannot afford to ignore the issue of
accountability which is a complete and inseparable process that starts with
the basic and the smallest unit in society which is the citizen and it ends up
with institutions. Each citizen has to ask himself and watch it and review his
daily work, otherwise this accountability will not fulfil its objectives.
Here, one's conscience plays an important role and the necessity to purify it
form all misgivings that cause its impurity due to certain circumstances and
different factors that may surround each individual. As for the other levels
of accountability which are carried out by specialized institutions, they
relate to the cases in which there was an abuse of rules and regulations, the
cases which should be very few if personal accountability is properly
exercised. In this case the performance of institutions would be better and
healthier. This is a continuous process that should be in parallel to the work
or should form a part of it.
Mistakes in their various forms are part of life and if they are not duly
addressed they will be aggravated. Correcting mistakes, however, should never
aim to revenge; rather it should be meant as a deterrent for others and not
just for the one who committed the mistake but for all those who might think
of committing similar mistakes. In such a way we will be able to put a common
strategy for development that will constitute a specific framework for steps
and measures which should be taken in order to achieve the objectives of such
a strategy, especially as our country has undergone different historic,
political, economic and social circumstances during the twentieth century,
circumstances that were and still are changing rapidly. These changes were
mostly political. President Hafez al-Assad was able during the last three
decades to put a general strategy that responded to the various needs of
desired development; a strategy that covered different sectors. The political
strategy which he put and supervised both its implementation and development
proved a great success until this very day. As for the other domains, as we
all know, they did not cope with the excellent political performance for many
reasons. That is why there was a definite gap between the political
performance and the performance and all other sectors. If the performance of
other sectors were better our political stand would have been stronger no
doubt, though it is solid enough, but our ambis always to add to what we have.
The performance in the economic field, in particular, went through sharp
fluctuations as a result of changing circumstances that in turn were the
subject of sharp changes, particularly as our economy moved from an economy
that has open markets to an economy that has to be competitive. This point was
addressed through issuing laws and decrees which were sometimes experimental,
sometimes impulsive and at other times they were a reaction to a certain state
of affairs. Very rarely this point was addressed in an effective way that
takes the initiative which precedes event. The reason for this was that there
was no clear strategy that aimed to bring about certain legislation; rather
the economic strategy came as a result of all these legislations. Hence, it
came out weak with many loopholes and it was partially to blame for many of
the difficulties from which we suffer today. This means that today we need
economic, social and scientific strategies that may serve both development and
steadfastness in the meantime. Such strategies are not available as ready
recipes; rather they need deepened studies the results of which can be
considered the basis that decides our point of direction. This undoubtedly
needs time, effort, cooperation as well as extensive and broad dialogues.
The question that we have to ask here is, shall we wait to finish putting the
required strategies in order to start the process of development or do we
continue to improve what we have started in the past? It seems to us that the
work should start in parallel through a follow up of taking the required
measures in addition to preparing visions in order to draw our future plans
knowing full well that fragmented development does not achieve our desired
objectives. Hence there is a need for coordination and complimentary
orientation among measures and steps taken in all fields.
All what has been indicated above needs analysis and analysis needs studies
and results which in turn need a reality to be based on. When we say
‘reality' it means accurate figures. Figures do not lie and therefore they
are genuine and transparent. Dealing with figures requires honesty and
transparency. The term ‘transparency' has been frequently used and discussed
lately in dialogues and essays and in other places as well. Some used to call
for a transparent economy and others called for transparent media while some
others called for a transparent mentality in other domains. There's no doubt
that transparency is an important thing and I support such an endeavor but
through a proper understanding of the content of the idiom and of the ground
on which it might be based. Prior to being an economic or a political or an
administrative case, transparency is a state of culture, values and social
habits. This poses a question and a requirement in the meantime that we should
ask ourselves before we address it to others; am I transparent with myself
first and with my family second and with the close and distant circle and with
my country third? Any one whose answer is in the affirmative will undoubtedly
know the meaning transparency and will be able to appreciate its horizons and
to practice it wherever he/she might find himself herself. How do we, for
example, ask a person who is not honest in his personal life and with those
closest to him to be an honest official towards his responsibility and towards
his people? If he is a vague man in his arguments how do we ask him to be
transparent when he assumes a certain post? If we want to address a problem we
should start at the beginning and not at the end and we should address the
cause rather than the result. This dictates that we should face ourselves and
our society bravely and conduct a brave dialogue with both in which we reveal
our points of weakness and talks about customs, traditions and concepts which
have become a true impediment in the way of any progress.
Society is the path on which all progress in different domains must tread. If
this path is not good, development will flounder or stop, which in a relative
sense means going backwards. This is one of the difficulties in our reality
and the analysis of this reality requires concentration on the obstacles which
keep this reality as it is without any true improvement. This needs an active
participation by all parties concerned, outside the framework of the State and
inside it so that all groups and social strata may contribute to finding the
appropriate solutions. I would like to stress here that any one who figures
out a problem should also indicate the solution for it. We have to shake off
the attitude of evading the sense of responsibility.
We have to give up reliance on others. The employee relies on his colleague
and the junior employee relies on his senior and the citizen considers the
State responsible finding for solutions. I would like to reiterate here that
finding solutions is the responsibility of all of us in order to make these
solutions complete and effective. You should not rely solely on the State nor
should you let the State rely solely on you: let us work together as one team.
I would like here to give an example from our economic life which is the case
of export that is considered an important pillar in the national economic
income and which will receive a very special attention during the coming
period. It is the duty of the State to issue legislations and laws and to make
decisions and sign agreements with other countries and parties in order to
encourage export and to help find markets in addition to achieving the
capacity to be competitive, but this will not be completed properly if the
Syrian goods do not enjoy a good reputation and if they are not of high
quality and standards. Added to this the fact that both producers and
exporters should be accurate and should respect the date of delivery in
addition to conducting marketing operations for their goods and effectively
participating in domestic and external exhibits in order to broaden their
markets, the fact that will achieve prosperity both for them and for national
economy. In this regard it has become necessary to move in steady, though
gradual, steps, towards performing economic changes through the modernization
of laws, the erosion of bureaucratic obstacles standing in the way of internal
and external investment flow, the recruitment of both private and public
capital, and the activation of the private sector and granting it better
opportunities to work.
It is also necessary to bring the public sector to a competitive level in both
domestic and external markets, the thing that leads to a balanced and
comprehensive development in all provinces of the country and in rural as well
as urban areas. This will also lead to a fair distribution NGP in a balanced
fashion, to the increase of job opportunities and to the improvement of the
livelihood of citizens in the light of the increase of their lively needs and
the constant increase in the cost of living. The agricultural public sector
should also be developed through the modernization of its means of production
and through the search for markets to sell its products as well as through
enhancing land reform and dispensing with negligence and passivity which took
place in the past and to speed up the building of dams that serve our
developmental plans. We have also to put a wise economic policy that bridges
gaps between sources and expenditure, between export and the rehabilitation of
the private and public economic sectors to face the increasing dangers
resulting from the challenges of globalization. In this way our economy may
well assume a respectable place in regional and international economic blocs.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Our aspirations will not be properly fulfilled unless we emphasize the role of
institutions in our lives. An institution is neither a building nor a system
that governs nor the persons who work in it; rather, it is first and foremost,
the institutional thinking that considers every institution, however small it
might be and whatever its domain may be, a representative of the entire
country, its reputation and its civilized outlook. Institutional thinking
acknowledges that institutional work is a joint and not a personal work, a
work that is based on honesty, sincerity and on using time to the maximum
extent, on putting public interest above personal interest, and on putting the
mentality of a state above the mentality of the tribe. It is the logic of
cooperation and openness to others, and it is inseparable from the democratic
thinking which has many things in common with it in various places. This means
that democratic thinking enforces and strengthens institutional thinking and
work. To what extent are we democratic? And what are the indications that
refer to the existence or non-existence of democracy? Is it in elections or in
the free press or in the free speech or in other freedoms and rights?
Democracy is not any of these because all these rights and others are not
democracy, rather they are democratic practices and results of these practices
which all depend on democratic thinking. This thinking is based on the
principle of accepting the opinion of the other and this is certainly a
two-way street. It means that what is a right for me is a right for others,
but when the road becomes a one-way road it will become selfish. This means
that we do not say I have the right to this or that; rather we should say that
others have certain rights and if others enjoy this particular right I have
the same right.
This means that democracy is our duty towards others before it becomes a right
for us. Democratic thinking is the building and the structure. We all know
that when the foundation of a building is weak the building will be threatened
to fall for the slightest reason. Hence, each building is designed in a way
and has a foundation appropriate to the weight it is expected to carry. Hence,
we cannot apply the democracy of others on ourselves. Western democracy, for
example, is the outcome of a long history that resulted in customs and
traditions which distinguish the current culture of Western societies. In
order to apply what they have we have to live their history with all its
social signification. As this is, obviously, impossible we have to have our
democratic experience which is special to us, which stems from our history,
culture, civilization and which is a response to the needs of our society and
the requirements of our reality. In this case our experience will be strong
and able to stand the test of time no matter how difficult that might be.
Destructive experiences in different countries: close and to see and take
lessons from.
Our National Front is a democratic example that has been developing through
our own experience and that has played a basic role in our political life and
in our national unity. Today, it has become necessary to develop the method of
the work of the National Front in a way that responds to the needs of
development in our developing and changing reality at all levels. As the
democratic and the institutional thinking are linked, and I am not saying
identical, administration is bound to be influenced by them. Hence,
administrative reform which we have to conduct in both the private and the
public sectors is linked to them: it develops with their development and
retraces with their retrace.
Administrative reform is a pressing need for all of us today. Inefficient
administration today is the greatest impediment in the way of our march
towards a better development; it negatively affects all sectors without any
exception. We have to start immediately to prepare the studies which ensure
the change of this reality to the better through improving the administrative
systems and their frameworks, through increasing the level of efficiency of
the administrative and professional cadres and through putting an end to the
state of carelessness, passiveness and evasion of carrying out one's duty.
There is no escape from bringing the careless, the corrupt and the evil doers
to justice. This also requires the improvement of the accountability apparatus
in the country in order to make it more effective and to support it with the
appropriate resources. Here comes the importance of the energized role of your
Parliament in correcting the work of different institutions through pointing
to the points of weakness and inefficiency and following up the process of
correcting it in a positive way. I would also like to stress here the
important role of the judicial system and the necessity to support it with the
clean and efficient cadres so that it may play its full role in order to
achieve justice and guard the freedoms of citizens and the proper
implementation of laws.
From what has preceded we can notice that the work of institutions is closely
linked, the fact that requires also a close link between the mind that governs
and organizes the work of each institution such as the institutional
mentality, the democratic mentality and transparency that starts in the home
and grows or recedes through the circumstances of daily life. Society is the
fertile soil in which we sow our seeds; as for the fruits we reap in
institutions. Hence, the better the seeds we sow the better and fresher the
fruits we reap. The task of the state is to prepare the suitable and
appropriate ground for the seeds to grow. It also has to provide the best
circumstances for this growth and to guarantee that the fruits remain fresh
(which is the most important stage) so that our soc may benefit from them;
otherwise they will go off and become rotten and a source of illness and
disease.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We have to respect law because it guarantees the state's respect for the
citizen and the citizen's respect for the state. The rule of law guarantees
our freedom and the freedom of others. We have to fight waste and corruption
taking into account that each kind of work will necessarily entail a
percentage of unintentional mistakes which should not worry us but we should
try not to allow their recurrence. We have to distance ourselves from chaos
and wasting time and to commit ourselves truly and sincerely to our work and
to double our efforts in order to make up for what has been lost. We have to
give up the idea of uprooting the status quo in totality instead of working to
develop and improve it basing our work on the view that human life has no
ultimate truth. No matter how bad the reality might be it must carry within it
some good things, and no matter how good or excellent it might appear it will
not be pure from misgivings.
The march of people is made up of successive achievements, each group of which
is built on what has preceded it. Development comes as a result of building
positive things on the good things that preceded them. As for backwardness it
is the opposite of that. Hence, one can launch one's work from the positive
points even of a bad reality to create a better reality and from the better
one moves to what is best. While if we are to uproot everything in reality it
means that we are eliminating it with all its negative and positive points,
and then when a new launch is needed what is it to be based on: a vacuum or a
point zero? We have also to get away from repeating concepts and idioms
without any proper understanding of their contents. Many ideas may respond
well to our needs but the lack of a proper understanding of these ideas may
turn them into harmful concepts.
We have to pay a very special attention to qualifying cadres and training them
in all fields and at all levels through depending on national cadres both in
Syria and out of it in addition to contacts with Arab and foreign cadres and
through benefiting from countries which have successful experiences in various
fields. We have to stress the importance of planning and the quality of this
planning in order to reach a qualitative society and state and in order to
continue the building of contemporary and progressive Syria. We also have to
stress the importance of spreading education and knowledge and information
technology as well as paying special attention to the trade of minds and to
exporting ideas and developing scientific research through providing the
infrastructure that starts with organized work through research institutions
and ends up with the necessary technologies, according to the abilities and
the necessity of linking this to the developmental needs of our society.
Reform and improvement are certainly needed in our educational, cultural and
information institutions in a way that serves our national interests and
strengthens our genuine culture that leads in turn to undermine the mentality
of isolationism and passivism and addresses the social phenomena that
negatively affect the unity and safety of our society. The target of all what
has been mentioned above is to prepare skilled and qualified social forces
able to deal and interact with various world developments especially as our
current reality constitutes a ground that is not quite apt to enter the new
century which is the century of institution and information technology.
It will be very difficult to achieve any of what has preceded if women were
not active participants from their positions as they constitute a true half of
our society. Women are the ones who bring up both men and women and who
prepare them to participate in building their country. Women play an important
role in progress and development in various places of work. The appropriate
ground for women's participation should be well prepared so that they may
become more effective in our society and more capable to play a role in its
development.
If we are able to commit ourselves to all what has been mentioned above we can
rest assured that Syria will stay the master of itself, free to take its own
decisions, taking into account that none of us has a magic solution to solve
all the problems in one go. Hence, there is a need to put priorities and
preferences remembering always that change is not an end in itself but a means
to respond to our daily needs. Promises should not be cut unless one possesses
all the elements that lead to the achievement of the required task. This could
be possible at a personal level or in a certain domain or field but when we
speak at the level of a country, especially when hopes are so great and
difficulties are just as great, then no one person may possess all the right
elements and no single post can provide them; rather these elements have to be
found by the community, officials, institutions and citizens.
What I can promise you now is that I shall work tirelessly. As for
achievements we have to promise each other that each one of us shall offer
what she/he has of elements and potential and abilities in order to reach our
common objectives.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Our strenuous efforts to foster our domestic front are strengthened through
our relations with other countries especially our Arab brother countries at
all levels, and through activating the existing Arab economic conventions and
the continued efforts to establish a true nucleus for a joint Arab market.
This is the minimum but the best possible thing now in order to maintain what
is left of the hopes for establishing healthy Arab-Arab relations. The state
of the Arab nation and the weak ties among Arab countries that have prevailed
during the last few decades and especially during the nineties is no longer a
secret to any one. Regional interests superseded the national ones; the Arab
body was weakened and the Arab nation suffered from divisions among its
countries. The Arab nation accommodated itself to this new abnormal situation,
and what should have been a state of emergency became the normal state of
affairs to the extent that any talk about Arab nationalism or Arab solidarity
seems at least to some to be romantic or a waste of time. Some even started to
shed doubt on Arab common interests. Despite this deteriorating state of
relations among Arab countries which might prompt some to be pessimistic and
others to be frustrated we should not surrender to the feeling of utter
hopelessness to achieve any breakthrough in this regard. We should neither
surrender to this current reality nor be satisfied with it.
There has to be and healing initiatives that do not rely on the logic of gain
and loss at the country level but at the national level. They should depend on
the goal of collective gain that will make individual gain more certain. Such
initiatives should also depend on the logic of national dignity and Arab
values and ethics. In this regard we look forward to a more effective role
played by the Arab League to achieve this particular goal. We, in Syria, shall
stay as we have always been, supportive of any solidarity step that might
serve the higher interest of the Arab nation, particularly steps that might
lead to the consolidation of points of agreement among Arab countries in a way
that undermines points of difference and division and paves the way for a
reasonable level of productive relations among these countries at a first
stage in order to prepare for a better future for these countries at later
stages. We have to do that fast because the new international situation gives
the position to the stronger party. This is the fact that prompted many
countries to establish different regional alliances in order to be stronger in
facing international challenges and to gain an extra margin in their
maneuvers.
We who possess greater factors to establish a coherent unit are called upon
more than any one else in the world to pursue such a project of regional
unity. We consider our relationship with Lebanon an example of a relationship
that should exist between two brotherly countries. But this example is not
perfect yet and it still needs great efforts in order to be ideal and to
achieve the joint interests of both countries in a way that responds to the
ambitions of both countries.
Nonetheless, the Syrian-Lebanese solidarity during the past few years has
achieved a great deal which would have been impossible to achieve had each
country worked on its own and in isolation of the other. Ending the civil war
in Lebanon, establishing national reconciliation in addition to the defeat of
the Israelis in the eighties and nineties and finally their worst defeat
lately in the month of May are a clear evidence of the importance of this
solidarity. Of course, all these achievements were based on the solidarity and
unity of the Lebanese people and state with the heroic Lebanese national
resistance.
We, in Syria, shall always stand by Lebanon and support it in all its national
causes, especially in matters which concern the return of its full territory
and the return of its prisoners locked in Israeli jails and in its brave stand
in the face of repeated Israeli threats to lead an aggression against it. Such
threats do not serve the cause of peace in the region; rather they keep the
points of tension hot, the fact that keeps the threat of the emergence of new
circles of violence in the region possible as well as putting obstacles and
impediments in the way of achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the
region. In this regard, Israel still occupies our Golan and this is a topic
that preoccupies us.
The liberation of our territory is at the top of our national priorities and
is as important to us as the achievement of a just and comprehensive peace
that we have adopted as our strategic choice, but not at the expense of our
territory nor at the expense of our sovereignty. Our territory and our
sovereignty are a matter of national dignity and no one at all is allowed to
compromise any of them. We were very clear in dealing with peace issues, firm
in our stands since the beginning of the peace process in Madrid in 1991;
unlike the Israeli policy that fluctuated sometimes and put obstacles at other
times. Until this very moment they did not give us any proof that invites
confidence that they have a true and genuine desire to achieve peace. Rather
they have been suggesting different versions in order to cover what they truly
want to do so they ask us to be flexible and I think that they mean the
territory should be flexible in order to press its borders and make it shrink
in a way that suits their objectives or they send us missionaries who ask us
to agree to a modified line of June 4 and ask us to call this modified line
June 4, as if the difference is about naming the line. Or they suggest to give
us 95% of our land and when we ask about the remaining 5% they say it is only
a problem of few meters and this should not be an obstacle in the way of
peace. If those few meters are not a problem and should not be an obstacle in
the way of peace, then why they don't return to the June 4th lines and give us
5% of the territory west of the Lake?
They have betted on many things; they have betted on the health of President
al-Assad forgetting that national leaders who enter history enter it through
the doors of their own countries and enter the world of eternity through the
same door and never through concessions and giving up rights. They have betted
on the military strength and were defeated in Lebanon. They have betted on our
national unity and our people defeated this bet and now what are they going to
bet on? The only betting that may succeed is to bet on the will of the people
to return their rights through the return of their complete territories to the
line of June 4, 1967. Only then we can proceed towards a just and
comprehensive peace. We call upon the United States to play its full role as
an honest broker and a cosponsor of the peace process. Pressure has to be
exerted in order to implement the resolutions of international legitimacy with
all the legitimate rights they dictate for the Lebanese, the Syrian and
Palestinian people.
We would like to stress here that we have the urge to reach a state of peace
but we are not ready to give up an inch of our territory nor do we accept our
sovereignty to be impinged upon. We would like to achieve peace because it is
our strategic choice and because the Syrian people have always been, through
history, peace lovers and because we would love to restore our beloved Golan
complete and because we want its people to go back to their homes, but we are
not ready to give up an inch of our territory nor to achieve peace at the
expense of our national sovereignty. Our brave people on the Golan will always
be today and tomorrow and for ever Arab Syrians because no matter how long it
might take this land will always be ours and will be returned complete to us
one day sooner or later. We are not prepared to pay the price of the
helplessness of the Israeli governments and their inability to make decisions
that push the peace process forward at the expense of our sovereignty and
dignity. The ball of peace which they throw at different courts according to
their whims is a heavy ball and carrying it needs statesmen who are able to
make difficult decisions and not just people in offices who carry this ball
with them wherever they might be and it moves around and they move with their
political posts.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The policy of adhering to the principles of international legitimacy requires
the United Nations to carry out its mission as mentioned in its Charter in an
objective way and away from different points of influence that might limit the
implementation of these principles in the best way possible in order to reach
a world with no conflicts and no points of tension, a world where peace,
justice and democracy prevail among countries and in which dialogue is
deepened and broadened among different civilizations in the world of today. In
addition to this, the North rich countries should shoulder their human
responsibilities towards the countries of the South with the aim of reaching a
more secure, a more confident and as a result a more stable world.
We look forward to building the strongest relations with the states, peoples
and international organizations on the basis of mutual respect and
constructive cooperation and the safeguarding of international peace and
security basing our relations on the rights of people to self-determination in
a way that secures their lively interest.
Brothers and Sisters,
As we are talking about every thing that concerns our people at the domestic
as well as external fronts we should not forget that there are the unknown
soldiers who do not exert efforts only but who pay with their souls without
any price. They are the sons of our military forces, the guardians of our
country, the source of our pride and the symbol of bravery and heroism who
were and will remain to be ready to defend our country and support our
brothers. Our military forces shall remain an example of honor, and perfect
national and responsible behavior and shall always remain the focus of our
great attention in order to remain able to carry out their duties whenever
they are called upon. All our love and appreciation to the members of our
glorious army and our high respect and loyalty to the innocent martyrs who
fell in battles of honor and duty. I shall not forget to mention our brave
people on the Golan who cling tenaciously to their country and their Arab
nationality rejecting Zionist existence in all its forms and we say to them we
are with you and our steadfastness together is the guarantee that our land
will be liberated. In Lebanon, the brave national resistance wrote the best
anthem of heroism and martyrdom and shall always remain in its path and
achievement and example that will live long with future generations.
Our dear people,
My trust in you is infinite and so is my love to you. I hope you will allow me
to emphasize to you a fact I feel that the man you have known and loved some
of his merits and exchanged trust and love with him will not change at all
once he assumes his post. He came out of the people and lived with them and
shall remain one of them. You may expect to see him every where whether in the
work place or on the streets or in your picnics in order to learn from you and
sharpen his determination by his contact with you and shall work for you as he
has always done. The man who has become a president is the same man who was a
doctor and an officer and first and foremost is the citizen.
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