German MP Christian Blex to ST: Our Trip to Syria Caused Quite a Stir in German Media
German politician, Dr. Christian Blex, who recently led a parliamentary delegation to Syria, has underscored that reactions to Syria events on social media show that many people in Germany no longer believe in their country’s state-owned media reports about Syria.
He told the Syriatimes e-newspaper that the media reports in Germany are one-sided about the situation in Syria and they are unilaterally based on unverified information from the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
SOHR has continuously reported events in Syria from only the perspective of armed groups, ignoring the Syrian government reports.
“During our trip, we have seen that there is another Syria outside the combat zones. Many areas are not or only slightly destroyed. Life goes on there. We met people who just want to live and rebuild their land,” the German lawmaker said.
He published over 24 posts on his Facebook account about the current situation in Syria, criticizing the West which says only part of the truth and recommending the media that are neutral about the German delegation’s visit to Syria.
“Indeed, there are some media outlets that are neutral about our journey! But not the Germans,” the politician said in a post published by him on March 12 [Few days after the conclusion of the delegation’s five-day visit to Syria].
In another post he said that the 600 civilians killed by the shelling of terrorists- positioned in the eastern Ghouta- on Damascus went unreported by the western media.
The German politician explained why the government of his country is trying to hide the real situation in Syria from the public opinion.
“The population in Germany is extremely one-sidedly informed about your country.This is the real shame. At the same time, we have many problems with refugees in Germany.Therefore, the government is trying to hide the real situation in Syria from the people,” Dr. Blex said, adding that the German delegation’s trip to Syria has caused quite a stir in the German media, even though many reports were very biased as expected.
He affirmed that he achieved his goal as many of the people in his country started to think about the events taking place in Syria. He has been following up the situation in Syria for some time and he decided to visit the country after he was elected as MP.
“Our party (The Alternative for Germany AFD ) is new. We are in the Bundestag only since the end of October 2017. I am only since June 2017 in the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia. That’s why the visit was only possible now,” he added.
EU people know nothing about sanctions’ effects on Syrian people
Asked about the ability of the EU parliamentarians to convince the EU to lift the sanctions being imposed on the Syria people, Dr. Blex replied: “In many EU countries, the image of Syria is very one-sided. The media usually does not report the impact of sanctions on ordinary people in Syria. The people of Europe know practically nothing about the effects. Thus, they can’t put pressure on the politicians. I therefore believe that it will unfortunately take some time before the EU sanctions are lifted.We hope to have made a first step towards this with our journey.”
The politician, who visited Syria for the first time, was overwhelmed by the hospitality and the friendliness of the Syrian people.
“I had the feeling that people were very happy that a western politician even listens to them. That touched me a lot. I liked your country and its people so much that it will not be my last visit,” Dr. Blex concluded.
Since 2011, a foreign-backed terror war has been waged on Syria targeting its people, army, civilization and infrastructures in accordance with US-Zionist plot that aims to fragment the region and to have hegemony over its wealth.
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Interviewed by: Basma Qaddour