Dr. Bashar Al-Jaafari: Syrian Government fulfills its constitutional role to maintain security and stability and fight terrorism

 DAMASCUS, (ST)_  Syria ‘s permanent representative  to the UN, Dr. Bashar Al-Jaafari  highlighted the political  and diplomatically- played  battle waged by Syria,  the efforts  exerted by the Syrian  mission at the UN and secrets of  what is happening in the corridors of the International Organization in targeting Syria and her national and international role.

In an exclusive interview with Tsihreen daily issued on Sunday, Dr. Al-Jaafari  said that the term ” Middle East”  was first used by  the British diplomacy in 1902, and was intended to  identify  the region, which is bordered by India to the east and the Red Sea to the west. With the establishment of the United Nations, the meaning of the area  changed to be limited to the  Arab Asian countries, Egypt and Palestine and “Israel”.

Syria’s Mission at the United Nations has an important role in explaining the truth of what is happening in Syria and the position of the Syrian government, Dr. Al-Jaafari  said, focusing on the course of attempts to internationalize the situation in Syria by certain Arab, regional and western countries,the UN security council held since the beginning of the current events in Syria more than 54 official meetings addressing the Syria issue.

The UN Council also held dozens of informal consultations, and adopted three resolutions (Resolutions 2042 and 2043 and 2059) , five presidential statements and ten press releases about Syria. “We were able, in cooperation with friendly countries in the Council, to prevent the adoption of three unfair European draft resolutions and the several initiatives proposed by the ” Qatari” President of the UN General Assembly pushing for military intervention in Syria’s internal affairs,” al-Al-Jaafari  said, adding  that before these meetings, the  Syrian delegation has always explained  the reality of the situation in Syria and the dimensions  of the unjust campaign against it.

 Replying to a question on priorities to maintain  communications with other countries to explain the Syrian issue and follow up its developments at the UN, al-Al-Jaafari   explained that the Syrian Mission at the UN gives  great importance to coordination with the ambassadors of friendly countries, particularly Russia, China, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, Iran, Ecuador, Cuba, Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia and the DPRK and Zimbabwe as well as with permanent delegates of other countries such as Argentina, Malaysia, Indonesia, Finland, Norway, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Greece, Hungary, Rwanda, Niger, Bangladesh, Angola in order to mobilize support for the Syrian position at the UN .

He continued that the Syrian Mission also works with the member states of the Non-Aligned Movement, which comprises the majority of the UN Security Council member states as well as with Member States of the Group of 77 + China, with important political and geographical groups such as the Asian Group, the African Group, the Latin countries Group and the Group of small States.  This coordination falls in the service of our issues at the United Nations, citing also the contacts with  ambassadors of several Arab countries such as Algeria, Iraq, Oman, the Sudan, Mauritania and Yemen.

 Answering another question about why some countries adopted a position on the Syrian crisis by virtue of incitement and disinformation campaigns led by hostile  media and Western pressure  and the change  made in this position, the Syrian Representative to the UN  explained : ” We have already cultivated the  results of the efforts we made  throughout the crisis, as  the UN General Assembly secretariat and all members states become convinced , of what we had said,  of the presence of terrorist groups and armed members of the al-Qaeda  committing terrorist acts in Syria. Besides, the Syrian government fulfills its constitutional role to maintain security and stability and fight terrorism. ”  He explained  that all  world countries  pledged to  cooperate in order to eliminate terrorism , guided by  16  international conventions against terrorism, the International Strategy for combating terrorism adopted by the General Assembly in September ,2006, and  relevant UN Security Council Resolutions  numbered 1267 (1999) , 1373 (2001) ,1624 (2006) , 1988 (2011) and 1989 (2011).

 Moreover, regional agreements were signed to this effect with Arab countries to cooperate against terrorism, and the Adana Agreement signed between the Syrian and Turkish sides, added Dr. Al-Jaafari.

  He indicated certain countries ignore these facts and continue conspiring to weaken Syria as to serve both  the interests of Israel and their own, noting that  the western countries members at the UN security council obstructed  five times the issuance of press releases condemning the terrorist bombings that claimed the lives of dozens of children, women and elderly in Syria and this in itself constitute direct support for terrorism.

 On the third double Russian and Chinese  veto, al-Al-Jaafari  said  that the Russian-Chinese veto marked the end of the uni-polar phase ,the  American hegemony on the United Nations, restored  balance to the international arena, and foiled attempts by certain countries to repeat the scenario of Libya in Syria and continued violation of the principles of the  international law,  under false pretexts and slogans such as the spread of democracy , the fight against terrorism , maintaining human rights and disarmament of weapons of mass destruction, etc..

 Despite the traumatic events Syria is experiencing and the amount of pressure imposed on the Syrian diplomacy at the UN, yet   it remained present in the events of the United Nations to defend the Arab issues and the Palestinian issue, in particular.

 Focusing on this fact,  al-Jafaari  said that Syria ‘s absence  from attending the meetings of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation  resulted in weakening   the performance  of the two Arab and Islamic groups and to  drop support for the Palestinian Cause, as the two organizations have become  under the control of the Qatari and Saudi Petrodollars and  the impact of Turkey, noting, in this regard,   the continued refusal of the Western group to accept Palestine as just an Observer member at the UN , while this western group is using the Arab group  to undermine Syria ‘s interests at the  UN.

 On the   different approaches  of the U.S. media’s handling of events in Syria,  as there have been several articles and investigations in major U.S. newspapers revealing the involvement of Arab states and terrorist organizations in the escalation of the situation in Syria , whereas other  U.S. media involved in the falsification of the facts  about the crisis in Syria, al-Jaafari outlined that  although objective   US media appeared recently  and worked on the dissemination of the real situation and highlighted the involvement of Arab states and regional in providing arms and money to armed groups and warned against the risk of penetration of al-Qaeda in Syria, the U.S.  objective media remained absent with the heavy presence  of an enormous  media  machine directed  against Syria and working on fabricating lies.

 On whether contacts were made with the UN envoy to Syria Lakhdar Ibrahimi, Dr. Bashar Al-Jaafari said that he met with Ibrahimi for several times, briefed him on the situation in Syria  , listened to his vision  on how to find a peaceful solution to the crisis, and assured him the Syrian government’s commitment to helping to provide a  success for his mission.
” The Syrian government had cooperated with all UN initiatives and earlier ones, on  the ground of Syria ‘s openness  to  seek a peaceful solution to the crisis  in Syria, away from outside interference and in a manner that preserves her  security and sovereignty.

 Responding to a question regarding the Syrian issue at the UN security council , Dr. Bashar Al-Jaafari said that the the key to overcome this crisis is manifested  in the will of the Syrian people to resolve the crisis away from any foreign agenda; a solution that rejects outside interference and preserves national unity and sovereignty.

 ” I invite the Syrian national opposition to engage in national dialogue ,  to refrain from investing  their energies  in serving  foreign agenda , which do not serve  Syria, to take part in the process of making the future of Syria , so as  to preserve the blood of the Syrians and keeps the homeland safe  for the better future of the  next generations.” Dr. Al-Jaafari concluded.

 M.W