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 analyse 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 Oreality' it means
accurate figures. Figures do not lie and therefore they are
genuine and transparent. Dealing with figures requires honesty and
transparency. The term Otransparency' 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.
May God bless you all.
Source and translation: Syrian
Arab News Agency
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