Al-Zou’bi: Syrian Official Delegation Faces Immense media and Political Pressure

Geneva (ST)-Information Minister Omran al-Zou’bi said that in spite of the immense political and media pressure being put on the official Syrian delegation, the delegation will continue its task and remain faithful to the blood of the armed forces and the civilian martyrs.

In statements to reporters on Wednesday, al-Zou’bi said  “we are relieved for several reasons: first; we feel that we are carrying out our national and political duty entrusted to us by President Bashar al-Assad”.

“Second; dialogue is still going on and it may has not reached anything yet, but the mere fact that discussion has begun and the feeling that we are acting in a responsible manner , despite the behavior of some parties within the coalition delegation of the so-called opposition, means that it will bode well “, al-Zou’bi added.

Al-Zou’bi added that when President al-Assad commissioned us with leading the official delegation, he was very clear that we must be in Geneva to defend Syria’s interests, because Syria is bigger than parties or individuals or anything else. We are acting accordingly because defending Syria means protecting its interests.

Al-Zou’bi pointed out that the dialogue session with the coalition delegation of the so-called “opposition” on Thursday, will tackle the issue of terrorism, as UN Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi clarified.

The Minister referred that some parties either from the coalition delegation or the media supporting it, imagine that the Syrian official delegation will be embarrassed to discuss a specific article in the Geneva I communiqué with them, trying to give the impression that we are confused. But, I tell them that we are neither confused nor worried about discussing anything, adding, we have a political, legal and constitutional response to each point and we have no problem.

Al-Zou’bi stated that the second session today will discuss the nature of Thursday’s session which is supposed to focus on terrorism, expressing hope that this is what will happen because the Syrian official delegation deems this issue as significant and strategic.

Regarding Brahimi’s attitude towards the course of the talks and the emerging issues taking place on the sideline, al-Zou’bi said that Brahimi said on Tuesday that he heard in the media about the US decision to support terrorists in Syria and that he is not sure about it, but now he is supposed to answer if he is asked about this issue, because it has become conspicuous and serious.

He underlined the necessity of being acquainted with the position of the UN Envoy towards one of the sides which made an initiative and who is basically violating the core of the initiative that states there can be no solution in Syria other than the political solution, whereas the US decision supports terrorism and contradicts this solution.

In response to Brahimi’s refutation of media allegation that the Syrian official delegation dealt with an issue relating to religion in the document it submitted to find common grounds for talks, al-Zou’bi said that this never happened for two reasons: first; Brahimi did not say such a thing and he has no reason to do so, and second; the submitted document does not mention the word religion or refer to this issue at all, because the Syrian constitution and government respect all religions, doctrines and sects and do not tackle these issues which have no place in the political discussion.

I.Abdulkareem